Deja Vu
by Neale
Summary: Story abandoned due to attacks from anonymous cowards. AU. This is my version of the HP time travel stories. AD/MW/RW bashing. NB: As Harry and Hermione know where the bodies are buried and can predict what will happen, this story will go much faster than my other ones. Cleaning House and Reconciliations
1. Chapter 1

**None of my current stories are co-operating with me at all at the moment, so given a choice between stopping writing until they speak to me again or trying something new…. well I've decided to try something new.**

 **Some of the HP 'time travel' stories here have been quite fun, so that's what this one will be, Harry and Hermione are thrown back to the start of their time at Hogwarts and their memories are triggered when they meet each other on the Hogwarts express for the first time. As with all my HP related stories, Harry is with Hermione and Dumbledore and Molly and Ron Weasley are despicable, haven't decided about anyone else yet.**

 **Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

The small boy was sitting quietly in the compartment on the Hogwarts Express, reading the text books that he had been forbidden to look at since he bought them with Hagrid on his birthday and talking to the beautiful snowy owl in the cage in front of him. He had been panicking that they would miss the train, because Hagrid had just told him to go to Platform 9 ¾, but he couldn't find any Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross station and that station attendant had been angry at him when he asked how to find it. Luckily the man had been called away before he could hit him like Uncle Vernon always did.

Just after that though a couple came along with a young girl, their daughter obviously, who had a similar trunk to his and an owl in a cage on her trolley, and they had just walked straight through the wall between platforms 9 and 10. When he saw that, Harry summoned his courage and, with a 'Wish me luck!' to Hedwig in her cage, pushed his trolley straight at the wall.

Even though he was hoping that there was something on the other side of that wall, it was still a shock to see a whole platform with groups of people scattered all about in front of him, and a big red steam engine and carriages waiting by the platform. One of the fathers saw him struggling to get his trunk up onto the train, so he came over to give him a hand and get him settled into one of the empty compartments. He waved off Harry's thanks for the help as if it were nothing, even though it was the first time anyone had ever helped him with anything, except Hagrid maybe, Harry couldn't understand that.

An hour or so after the train left Kings Cross Station, the door opened and a red headed boy came in, asking if he could share the compartment because everywhere else was full. Harry frowned at that, because there was no way that enough students had gotten onto a train this size to fill it up, and where the hell had he been for the past hour? But he just said "Yeah, Sure." and went back to reading his text book, at least until the git roughly grabbed Hedwig's cage and went to all but toss it out of his way.

Harry jumped up and wrenched the cage off of him to put it back where it had been, checking that Hedwig was OK before rounding on him. "What the hell do you think you were doing, grabbing Hedwig like that? What gives you the right to touch my owl?"

The git wasn't about to back down and started shouting back at him, raising his voice like Harry to be heard over Hedwig's angry hissing. "What's your problem? It's just a ruddy owl and I wanted to sit down!"

"She's _my_ owl and she's sitting there because I was talking to her! You come in here with some cock and bull story about everywhere else being full and straight away start interfering with me and my owl…. Look, piss off! Get out of here! There's no room for you here, go find somewhere else!"

The taller red head tried to intimidate him by standing over him and shouting back. "You can't tell me to get out! If I want to stay here I will..."

He broke off because the look that suddenly came into the smaller boy's eyes quite frankly terrified him. Harry had endured ten years of being abused, attacked and beaten by his Uncle and his cousin, who were both much bigger and stronger than this git, so he wasn't about to be intimidated by some lying bigmouth kid with an attitude.

The red head suddenly decided that this kid didn't match the description he'd been given to look for Harry Potter with anyway, and he was surprisingly scary for someone that small, so he muttered something about finding another compartment that didn't have nutters in it and high tailed it out of there.

The next four hours or so were fairly quiet, he got a few things from the lady who came through with a snacks trolley and a few other students came by looking for Harry Potter, but they all apparently decided the same thing as the red head had. That the small boy in ragged oversized muggle clothes didn't match what they'd all been told about Harry Potter, and the look in his eye when he looked up whenever someone stopped to look in at him promised that he'd be more trouble than he was worth to anyone who bothered him.

* * *

About five and a half hours into the trip though, the door opened again and a girl asked. "Excuse me, have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one." but as Harry looked up to answer her, they both froze, because over seven and a half years of memories of each other suddenly came crashing over them.

Hermione staggered and would have fallen if Harry hadn't jumped up and pulled her inside to sit down, but ten years of avoiding his Uncle and cousin and his cousin's gang made Harry rather quick and nimble and ten years of hard work and his magic constantly healing him had made him rather stronger than he looked. Once she was safely seated inside he closed the door and pulled the blinds closed.

Hermione managed to calm herself a little while Harry was getting them a little privacy, and when he sat down in front of her she asked. "Harry? What happened to us?"

Harry shook his head in confusion, he'd had none of these memories until the moment he saw Hermione, but now he remembered the life that the two of them had led from now, up until the day that they were both drugged and killed by their spouses and the mother-in-law they had in common.

They spent a while discussing what they remembered, but most of what they talked about was what had been revealed while their 'loved ones' were taunting them as they died. They were told how they had both been dosed with increasing levels of love and lust potions for most of the time since they started at Hogwarts, that Hermione's were keyed to that red headed git that Harry had thrown out earlier, Ron Weasley, and Harry's were keyed to the git's sister Ginny. In the later years, Ginny had also been taking fertility potions to ensure that she got pregnant to trap Harry into marrying her, while Hermione had been dosed with fertility potions as well so that she'd get pregnant and marry the git straight away instead of waiting until she'd made a name for herself as she'd wanted to.

The mother-in-law, Molly Weasley, took great delight in telling them that originally the idea had just been to keep Hermione out of the way so that Ginny didn't have any competition to land Harry. She'd been dosed with the lust potions to ensure that her Ronald would have his fun with her to make up for having to keep a filthy little Mudblood like her occupied. That changed after they discovered that she wasn't a Mudblood after all, she was in fact the scion of more than one Noble and Most Ancient house and loaded, so at that point the plan was changed from using her and then tossing her aside once Harry and his money had been locked into the family, to ensuring that she was married into the family as well so that they could get control of her money and then get rid of her, permanently.

For once, Molly Weasley's children had followed her instructions to the letter, and Hermione was six months pregnant and married to Ron Weasley when she did her NEWTs, but of course being Hermione, she'd still gotten Outstandings for every one. Ginny was five months pregnant and Lady Potter when she did her end of year exams, but Molly had done some deal with Dumbledore that guaranteed that she'd get good scores on her NEWTs without having to go back for her Seventh year.

Molly and her children had waited until the babies were born and the midwives were confident that the heirs to the houses that Harry and Hermione were the heads of would live before they killed Harry and Hermione, to ensure that the Weasleys would get full control of the power and money of their houses. The only relief for Harry and Hermione as they lay dying came from Molly's derision as she laughed about how Arthur and _his_ sons (which she'd qualified to Bill, Charlie and the twins when Harry asked what she meant by that) had had absolutely no idea about any of this.

She'd also laughed as she told them how she'd had to convince her husband that he couldn't stand in the way of young love when Hermione and then Ginny were found to be pregnant. She admitted to having been rather surprised that she had to work so hard to convince him though, seeing as he was still being dosed with the potions himself.

One of the last things that Harry and Hermione had heard before they died was that their deaths would be pinned on some people who were getting in the way of Dumbledore's plans for Magical Britain now that Voldemort was finally out of the way, using planted evidence to show that they had been secret followers of Voldemort who were trying to pave the way for their master's next return.

* * *

When they finished discussing the horrifying memories of their lives that they'd apparently been sent back to redo, they just held each other for a while, but Hermione's mind wasn't something that could be turned off by what they were feeling and she turned to Harry. "Harry, we need to do something to change how our lives go and prevent all of that happening again."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but what?"

"In the last cycle, you didn't find out what you were entitled to until after you were emancipated because you'd been forced to compete in that damned Triwizard Tournament, and it was nearly two years after that when we found the Ravenclaw diadem before you managed to talk me into doing the inheritance tests as well, so I discovered what I was entitled to. If we could call on what's rightfully our's from the start this time though, Dumbledore shouldn't be able to force us down the same paths that he did last time."

Harry just looked at her musingly for about half a minute and then nodded, standing up and holding out his hand as he said. "I, Henry James Potter, claim all titles and holdings that are rightfully mine!"

Hermione had to look away as a bright light surrounded Harry. When the light faded, Harry was revealed to be several inches taller and more filled out, as it appeared that the family magic of the four houses that he'd been accepted as the head of and the house he was accepted as heir of had corrected most of the depredations of ten years of neglect, abuse and malnutrition and removed the compulsions, charms and blocks that had been put on him. Harry looked frightened because everything had suddenly gone blurry, but when he said that, Hermione stood up and removed his glasses, sharing a laugh with him because he obviously had no need for the glasses now and could see perfectly without them.

They embraced, excited about how successful that had been, and then Harry said. "OK, it's your turn now Mione."

Hermione nodded hesitantly, took a breath, held out her hand and said. "I, Hermione Jean Granger, claim all titles and holdings that are rightfully mine!"

Like Harry, she was bathed in light, and when the light faded, she too had changed, though it was nowhere near as dramatic as Harry's changes. Hermione was a couple of inches taller and more developed, but Harry smiled as he saw that the two things that she'd hated the most about her appearance at this age had been corrected, as her teeth were even and her hair was a shimmering cascade of silken curls down her back rather than the bushy mop of hair it had been before.

Hermione now wore three house rings on her finger, representing the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the Noble house of Granger. They may not have been as impressive as the Head of House rings for the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin and the ring of the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black that Harry wore, but they gave her quite enough status to demand the same rights as Harry.

They somehow knew that any students who had been acknowledged as the Head of at least a Noble and Ancient House had the right to demand private chambers, and they also had the right to leave the school when required to conduct business for their houses and to be accompanied by whatever staff that they deemed necessary anywhere at Hogwarts. The right to employ private tutors for any subjects where they did not believe that the standard classes would meet their needs could actually be applied to any students once it had been established by a Noble and Ancient or higher House. Furthermore, these were inalienable rights, so no staff of Hogwarts, up to and including the Headmaster, could try to deny or interfere with them if the head of a Noble and Ancient or higher House claimed what they were entitled to.

They had hardly had time to get their heads around the changes to their bodies before someone knocked on the door and called out that they were almost at Hogsmeade, so anyone who wasn't in their robes yet needed to get changed. The voice also told them to leave their trunks and animals on the train as they'd be taken up to the castle for them.

Harry called out. "Right, thanks!" and the person moved on.

While they both had eleven year old bodies at the moment, they had the memories of eighteen and nineteen year olds who had been intimate with their partners for years and their memories of their true feelings for one another were no longer masked by the potions they had been poisoned with, so they weren't as modest as normal eleven year olds would be and had no trouble stripping down to their underwear to get changed into the clothes and robes that they would be wearing at Hogwarts together. Both of them needed to transfigure these clothes and robes to fit their new bodies, and Hermione had to also alter her bra quite a bit to fit, so they were thankful that they had retained the memories of the requisite spells and the ability to cast them.

They smiled at each other when they caught the appreciative looks the other was giving their new forms as they were getting changed, and before they left the compartment they shared a kiss that they would have been shocked and horrified to _see_ if they had actually been normal eleven year olds.

Harry had also had to take the time to make sure that his _other_ girl was OK with the changes in him. Hedwig was tentative at first, but it didn't take her long to accept that this was still her human, even though he looked different now, Hedwig also accepted that she had another human now, because she could feel the link between these two.

* * *

At the station, no-one paid any attention to the fact that the scrawny little kid who'd kicked the youngest Weasley out of his compartment was missing. Neville did notice that the girl who had been helping him look for Trevor was missing but while he was looking for her, he was suddenly pulled aside by another girl who rather like her and had the same voice, and who promised quietly to explain later but begged him to keep it to himself until they had a chance to speak to him in private. Neville was no fool, and when he looked pointedly at the new house rings on her fingers, Hermione flashed him a conspiratorial smile and nodded. He nodded to accept that for now and followed the giant of a man who was leading them down to the boats with her and the taller boy she had came off the train with.

When they were told that it was four to a boat, Neville called out to Susan Bones to come join them. Susan didn't want to be separated her friend Hannah, but something in Neville's voice said that this was important, so she told Hannah she'd see her in the castle and hopped into the boat with Neville and another boy and girl. Neville introduced her as the niece and ward of the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and introduced Hermione to her, then looked at Harry. Harry glanced at Hermione and then held out his hand to Susan and Neville. "Henry James Potter, but you most probably know of me as Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

They just stared at him at first, because he didn't look anything like the stories said he would, but they both shook his hand and when they did so they noticed the house rings. Neville waved at Hermione and said. "Hermione looked different when I first saw her on the train and I'm betting that so did Harry. The fact that they both felt the need to accept their titles and family magic on the train rather than go through the normal processes at Gringotts implies that there's something going on here that your Aunt might be the best person to help out with Sue."

Susan looked from Harry to Hermione. "Has Neville outlined the situation correctly there?"

Harry glanced at Hermione and she nodded, so he answered. "Pretty much, yes. We're not at liberty to discuss how we know just yet, but we do know that someone is trying to derail our lives and trap me into doing what he wants, at great risk to the two of us and a great many others." He held up his hand to show the rings. "We're banking on the fact that these, and Hermione's house rings, will be sufficient proof to get us the private chambers and other rights that the Heads of the high ranking Noble Houses can rightfully demand. As soon as we get to Gringotts to get everything established, we're going to take charge of our lives. There are a few other things of considerable importance that we need to discuss with your Aunt though, and we would greatly appreciate it if you could help set up a meeting with her for us Susan."

"Sue." Harry looked at her quizzically. "I'm called Sue by those who are close to me, and I have the strong feeling that the four of us, and I dare say others, are going to become quite close here."

Hermione grinned, she had never gotten close to Sue the last time around and she could see that she had missed out in that. "I think you're right Sue, and I for one look forward to it!"

Harry nodded with grin. "That goes for me too! Until we get things sorted out though, can we ask that you keep things about us to yourself, aside from your Aunt at least?"

Sue nodded. "Yes, of course, but I'm afraid that it will take something big to convince my Aunt to talk to you in any official capacity."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other for about thirty seconds and then Harry looked back at Sue. "Yes, we understand that, it will take time to gather the evidence to prove this but the one who was behind destroying my, Neville's, your and many other families in the war and since then is Dumbledore, he's prepared to sacrifice anyone to make his vision of what Magical Britain should be become a reality."

Sue stared at him. "Headmaster Dumbledore? The Leader of the Light? How can that be?"

"The Leader of the Light is no more than a title that he created for himself, just as Lord Voldemort is a title that the Halfblood Tom Marvolo Riddle created for himself. The only proof that I can offer to your Aunt that can be confirmed at this point is that my parents' wills were sealed by Dumbledore to prevent me being placed with any of the guardians that my parents had chosen for me, your Aunt was on that list by the way, so that he could place me where my parents were adamant I was _not_ to go, my mother's Muggle sister and her husband who hate anything to do with magic and spent the last ten years punishing me for it. Sirius Black could not have betrayed me and my parents to Voldemort because the official records will show that he completed the formal Godfather ritual and made me his heir, which would have prevented him from doing anything which might harm me, and he was never tried or found guilty of the crimes he was sent to Azkaban for. The lack of any trial for him will be confirmed by the DMLE's records. The fact that the official records show that he is Lord Black and I am his heir are further proof that he wasn't found guilty of the crimes he was accused of, as he would have been stripped of the title by his family if the magic let them. It was Peter Pettigrew who was the secret keeper for the cottage in Godric's Hollow and he is still a _live_ Death Eater. He has been hiding in an illegal animagus form for the past ten years though we have to catch him to prove that."

Sue was staring at him, she wanted to question him about all of this but there was no time as the boat was coming into the landing under the castle, so she quickly said. "I'll. I'll let Auntie know that. I'm sure that she will want to talk to you in the very near future Lord Potter."

Harry took her hand. "Harry, Sue. Like you said, I'm sure the four of us will be close friends and I'm Harry to my friends."

She squeezed his hand and nodded. "Yes… Harry, I'm sure we will!"

Then they were at the landing and climbing out of the boat. Harry and Hermione smiled at each other as they watched how Neville put his arm around Sue to support and settle her, as that last news had certainly knocked her off kilter.

Hagrid called out to ask whether anyone had lost a toad, because someone had found one on the train. Neville went to collect it and thanked Hagrid, then looked at the toad for about thirty seconds before walking to the edge of the landing and releasing it into the water. It was obvious that they were going to be in for challenging times with this situation that Harry had told them about, and he doubted that he would have any time to deal with an unwanted escape artist pet toad so letting him go was the best move.

Harry and Hermione shared another look as they watched Neville releasing Trevor. They smiled fondly at the toad because they knew that Trevor had already played his most important role, as he was what brought Hermione to Harry's compartment and triggered their regaining their future memories.

They didn't have a chance to savour that moment though, as Draco Malfoy came strutting up with Crabbe and Goyle lumbering after him. "So it's true, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts!" He stuck out his hand, supremely confident that everyone would bow to his superiority. "Draco Malfoy Potter, stick with me, I can help you understand the type of people you should be seen with, and who you should avoid…." He faltered as Harry raised his eyes from the outstretched hand to look him in the eye with cold disdain.

"Have you not been educated in proper etiquette for our society Master Malfoy?"

"What?…. Yes, of course I have!"

"Apparently your teachers were woefully inadequate then, if you do not know that a social inferior does _not_ offer their hand to their betters, they wait for their superiors to decide whether to initiate contact with them. The fact that you have come up to address me in such a familiar manner without waiting for an invitation in itself shows that you have no idea of how to behave properly. Perhaps the House of Malfoy should seek advice from the Houses of Longbottom or Bones on where they might find someone suitable to educate you in how to behave, and hopefully avoid further damage to the name of your house, as neither Heir Longbottom nor Heiress Bones were so presumptious to assume familiarity as the son of a barely Noble house did, even though the Noble and Ancient Houses of Longbottom and Bones are obviously vastly superior houses to _your's_."

Neville and Sue tried to hide their smiles as he bowed and she curtsied to Harry, saying as one. "We thank you for your kind words Lord Potter."

* * *

A bemused Professor McGonagall interrupted at that point, before the situation could escalate. She went through the usual sorting and house spiel on autopilot while her mind tried to process the scene that she just observed. She knew that Harry had been left with those awful Muggles over her objections after James and Lily were killed, so how had he become so obviously well versed in the rules and etiquette of their world? He had apparently also been accepted as the Head of House Potter... She caught sight of the rings on his fingers then and realised that it was more than that, because he was wearing the rings of four or five houses.

Then there was that girl he was with, she looked rather familiar but she couldn't quite place her… and she was wearing two or three house rings as well…

As she wound up her spiel, she wondered whether she should tell the headmaster about this development, but shook her head. No! It was _his_ games had buried that poor boy away from their world but Harry had somehow found a way to beat him at his own game. The old bastard would find out soon enough and she was looking forward to what Harry would pull out of the hat here…. The Hat! Oh yes, she was quite looking forward to seeing what happened in this sorting!

As she led them into the Great Hall, Hermione leaned towards Harry with a smile and said quietly. "They've enchanted the ceiling to look like the night sky, I read about it in Hogwarts, a History!"

Harry grinned back at her as he remembered how she'd been saying that to the girl beside her as she walked into the hall last time.

Harry was standing beside Neville as they were waiting for their sortings, Hermione had joined them in the applause for Sue when she was placed in Hufflepuff and he and Neville had applauded Hermione when she was placed in Ravenclaw (enjoying the confusion when she was announced as 'Lady Hermione Jean Granger'), but now Neville was looking nervous, so he leaned in to speak to him quietly. "I know that you're under pressure to follow expectations and go into Gryffindor Neville, but it's more important to follow your heart and go where you'll be happy. I am sure that your parents would rather see you go into a house where you can flourish than suffer in a house that you only chose because you thought it was expected of you. Being in Gryffindor doesn't make you any braver, being in Ravenclaw doesn't make you smarter, being in Slytherin doesn't make you more ambitious and being in Hufflepuff doesn't make you more loyal. You're meant to go into the house that fits your core values the best, and I don't think that it hurts to be with the people who mean the most to you either… Well if it's a toss up between Ravenclaw and another house, I can tell you that I'll try to get into Ravenclaw so I can be with Hermione…."

Neville flashed him a smile at that, he didn't miss what Harry was telling him, and he found that he was relaxing as he accepted that what Harry was saying resonated within him. When his name was called, he smiled again at Harry and walked forward confidently, and his smile lit up the room when the hat proudly announced. _**"HUFFLEPUFF!"**_ Harry smiled fondly when Sue hugged Neville as he sat down beside her.

The 'P's came up soon enough, and Professor McGonagall smiled as she announced. "Lord Henry James Potter!" because she saw out of the corner of her eye how Dumbledore almost dropped the goblet he was holding as he gawked at her in astonishment.

Harry inclined his head respectfully to her as he walked up to the Sorting Hat, sharing a smile with her as she whispered to him. "While I would dearly love to have you in my house Harry, I see more of Lily than James in you, so you would probably do better in her house..." and the Sorting Hat nodded in agreement.

The Sorting Hat began speaking to Harry then. "Yes Lord Potter, the sound advice that you gave to Heir Longbottom applies to you as well. You would fit your mother's house the best, and after seeing inside both your and Lady Granger's heads, I see no good for either of you in separating you, so…." " _ **RAVENCLAW!**_ "

Before Professor McGonagall stepped up to take the Hat off his head the Hat was grousing. "That interfering old bastard tried to insist that I place you in Gryffindor because he has some plan for you Lord Potter, but he told me to put _Harry_ Potter in Gryffindor. I don't know what happened to him, do _you_ Lord Henry James? But what do I know, I'm only a Hat!" Harry chuckled and the Hat added. "I have passed on your and Lady Granger's wishes for shared chambers with room to expand on to Hogwarts Lord Potter, and she is creating them for you now. We must also discuss control of Hogwarts, now that between you and Lady Granger you represent the four founders."

"I thank you Sir Hat..."

"Merlin, your Lordship."

"What?"

"My name is Merlin, Merlin put an image of himself into this hat, much like magical portraits are made now, and cast protections over it to ensure that it would survive. Godric was a direct descendent of Merlin, which makes you one as well by the way, so I was handed down to him. After they created Hogwarts, they were trying to determine the best way to sort students into the respective houses and Godric tried using me. That proved to work the best so they came up with a story that he'd created me for the purpose of sorting students. My prime purpose was supposed to be to advise the Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts, but it's been over half a millennium now since anyone has listened to my advice."

"It is an honour to meet you Merlin, please call me Harry, after all you're my ancestor in a way. Perhaps we can find some way to talk sometime? I would love to hear what you have to tell me."

"I would like that Harry, we'll work something out. Now don't worry, this might have seemed to be a long conversation for us but it was only seconds for everyone else."

"Thank you Merlin."

* * *

With that, Professor McGonagall took the Hat off his head and smiled at him. He whispered "Thank you Professor." and started to head for the Ravenclaw table, only to be brought to a stop by a call from the High Table. "Stop Harry! You need to come back and be re-sorted!"

When he turned to cast a cool look at the High Table, no-one could work out how he did it but even though he spoke in a quiet voice, he could be heard throughout the hall. "That is Lord Potter Headmaster, or Mister Potter if you insist on being informal. I do not know you Sir and therefore such a familiar form of address is inappropriate."

Severus Snape snarled from his position beside Dumbledore. "Potter! You will address the Headmaster with respect!"

Harry shifted his attention to Snape. "You appear to be hard of hearing Professor! As I just told the Headmaster, my title is Lord Potter, or Mister Potter if _I_ choose to allow you to be so informal! As you were raised in the Muggle world, I will explain to you _once_ , how this works. You have publicly addressed the Head of several Noble and Most Ancient Houses in an insulting and aggressive manner. Your only options here are to make a genuine public apology and ensure that you never make a mistake of this nature again or…."

"You insufferable brat! You're just as bad as your father! I will ensure that you will pay for trying to threaten me every day of your miserable existence here!"

"Or the names of the Houses of Prince and Snape will be eradicated and everything belonging to those Houses will be forfeit to the House of Potter for the insult given here in front of so many witnesses. But now you have escalated this by actually _threatening_ the Head of several Noble and Most Ancient Houses in front of all these witnesses. Therefore the option of offering an apology must now be retracted and you will have to be tried and sentenced for your crime."

He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Professor McGonagall, would you be so kind as to call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to come and address this matter please?"

She curtsied, saying. "Most certainly Lord Potter. I will do so immediately." before heading for the door.

Just before she reached the door, Dumbledore came out of his stupor and shouted. "Professor McGonagall! I forbid you to contact the DMLE! This is a purely Hogwarts matter and it will be addressed internally!"

She turned and looked at him. "Headmaster, as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I find your lack of understanding of the legal requirements of our society astounding! As Lord Potter has stated, the _only_ option available to us in the event of what has just occurred is to call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement immediately and turn the matter over to them. I for one fully intend to do my duty to the school and our students."

With that, she proceeded on out of the Great Hall, returning twenty minutes later with the Director of the DMLE and a team of Aurors. While she was gone, Professor Sprout continued with the sorting of the rest of the First years. It took the Aurors a fair while to collect statements from many of the people in the hall and take Snape into custody, pending his trial.

In the midst of this, after Sue had a quick word with her Aunt, Madam Bones took Harry and Hermione off to Professor McGonagall's office to get an explanation for what her niece had told her. This resulted in a trip into the Gryffindor first year boy's dormitory where Ron Weasley's pet rat was forced into its human form and secured with magic suppressing shackles by the Aurors before being taken away with his fellow Death Eater Severus Snape. They also made another trip to a room on the seventh floor that she had not been aware existed and retrieved an object that was so foul that it was hard to bear being anywhere near it.

Madam Bones advised Harry that she would have Sirius Black collected from Azkaban immediately and that she would ensure that he was kept safe with his health issues being addressed pending his trial. She also promised to bring a trusted Auror escort with her to take him and Hermione to Gringotts first thing in the morning to do what they had to do to take over their estates and obtain copies of his parents' wills.

She still wanted answers about how they knew all of this, but she'd already seen proof of at least part of it in Lord Potter and Lady Granger's identification of who and where someone who was supposed to have been dead for the past ten years was hiding in his animagus form and that foul object from the seventh floor. The explanation that they both started having visions when they met on the train was hard to swallow, but then this whole thing was so bizarre that it made more sense than any logical answer would have.

After they finished with Madam Bones, Harry and Hermione returned to the Great Hall and sought out Professor Flitwick. In the fifty five minutes that they'd been out of the hall, Professor Flitwick had been notified by the house elves that Hogwarts had prepared the Nobles Tower for the two heads of house who were newly arrived at Hogwarts, as per what was laid out in the Hogwarts Charter. As he'd never heard anything about that before, he'd asked the elf if he could bring him a copy of the Charter, and had read the relevant areas. That made for very interesting reading, which in turn led to an even more interesting discussion with the Grey Lady (the Ravenclaw House Ghost), where she informed him that the rights decreed in the Hogwarts Charter could not be overturned or denied. She took great delight in telling him about how the Ministry had tried to overturn the Charter a number of times since it was created in seventeen hundred, but it had failed every time because the Hogwarts Charter was absolute and the magic of it was stronger than anything the Ministry could come up with.

When Harry and Hermione sought him out, the Sorting Feast was almost over, so at his suggestion they just waited until the rest of the students were sent off to their respective house quarters, so he was free to escort them to their new tower. The Grey Lady was waiting there for them, and explained how to get in and what the protections were. She stayed on to explain the rules of the Charter to Professors McGonagall and Sprout at Professor Flitwick's request after Harry and Hermione told him about the other rights that they intended to claim.

Harry and Hermione stuck to the largely true story that they had both been having visions of a possible future ever since they met on the Hogwarts Express, and that was what had led them to claim their titles and what they had a right to at Hogwarts. The professors (including Professor Flitwick) were pretty much set on the idea that Harry and Hermione were reincarnations of soul mates who were being given a second chance, and the pair didn't argue with them on that as the idea was close enough to the truth and it sat well with them. That did create one problem though, in that the professors were uncomfortable with the two of them staying in their tower alone under those circumstances. The solution that was agreed on was that Professor McGonagall assigned her elf, Bonnie, to them and she would stay with them to look after them and act as chaperone.

The answers to the inevitable questions about what happened after Harry was left with those awful Muggles led to a great deal of tears and anger, much of the latter being directed at Dumbledore for his part in that. Professor McGonagall was especially outraged as she realised that she must have been obliviated of most of it, almost certainly against her will, because the only thing she could remember about it was arguing against leaving the infant with those terrible people, she had no memory of where it was, or that it had been Lily's sister he was taken to.

The professors were shocked, of course, when Harry and Hermione revealed that between them, they had been accepted as the heads of all four of the Founders' houses, but they were delighted with the idea of how much that would shake up their society, and especially the school itself. They were concerned when Professor McGonagall pointed out that Dumbledore had had himself made Harry's magical guardian, but Harry in turn pointed out that that was one of the things that they planned to have addressed in the morning when they went to Gringotts, because Edward Tonks, who had been made the Potter family solicitor by his father, and his wife Andromeda were the first available choice as guardians in his parents' wills, so when they read the wills the Tonks would almost certainly become his guardians.

Their relief over that was short lived, because Minerva also remembered that the Headmaster was automatically assigned as the magical guardian for all Muggleborn students at Hogwarts. That caused a panic until Hermione held up her hand to display her house rings and pointed out that she wasn't strictly speaking a Muggleborn, so with the goblins' help, they would hopefully be able to locate an acceptable relative from one of her three houses to assume that role for her.

The professors could see that the events of the day had worn the children out and suggested it was time for bed. Professor Flitwick assured them that he would handle all the arrangements to remove them from the regular classes for Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic and Astronomy, and that he would make the arrangements with Professor Sinistra for them to do the end of the year Astronomy exam as soon as possible so that she understood that their skipping her class was no reflection on her, merely the fact that they already knew the subject matter.

When Harry saw his room, he just stopped and stared, because it was so different from anything he'd had so far in this cycle, for that matter he had never had anything like this in the previous cycle either. He had a long, luxurious shower in his magnificent bathroom and then climbed into the softest bed he'd ever slept in.

Bonnie fussed over him and watched as he went to sleep, because she'd heard enough in those discussions to know that the young master had had a terrible life so far, and she vowed to do what she could to make his life better from now on. She had been upset when her mistress had assigned her to look after these children instead of her, but as she heard about the lives they'd led and what their visions of another life were, the young master in particular, her heart went out to them and she understood that her mistress hadn't been rejecting her, she was doing the best she could to give these children a better life. That was enough to relieve her upset and make her resolved to justify her mistress's faith in her.

In the morning, Bonnie had them up, breakfasted, dressed and ready by the time that Madam Bones arrived to take them to Gringotts, so they left as soon as she arrived. Meeting Ted and Andi Tonks was interesting, because while Harry and Hermione had heard a lot about them from Sirius and their daughter, they had never actually met them in the last cycle. Ted was confused about how they had known that he was the Potter's solicitor, as that was something that had been kept a secret, but Andi was even more confused about why she was required to be there. The way Madam Bones glanced at Harry and said. "That will be explained when we meet with the Goblins Missus Tonks." just added to her confusion.

Once inside, Harry went to the counter, made the appropriate salutations and requested to speak to the Potter Account Manager. The Goblin he was addressing demanded to know what it was about until Harry held up his hand to display the Potter House ring and said. "That is something for me to discuss with my Account Manager, the Head Goblin, and I do not believe that he would appreciate you interfering in matters that are no concern of yours."

The Goblin kept blustering, but the one working beside him had heard what was said and ran off to inform the Head Goblin of what was going on in the banking chamber, as there was something about this young human that said he knew what he was talking about and that he was not to be trifled with.

Ten minutes later, Harry, Hermione, Madam Bones and Ted and Andi Tonks were being escorted into a rather imposing office. The figure who stood up and came around the desk was like no other goblin any of them but Harry and Hermione had ever seen, he was about five and a half feet tall, with a thick mane of raven black hair and his hands and features were more human than goblin. He looked into Harry's eyes and then put his hands out. Harry knew what was expected and held out his hand with the house rings. The Head Goblin touched each house ring in turn, nodding musingly before he looked up at Harry again. "Your father and his fathers before him only wore the Potter ring Lord Potter."

Harry nodded. "I was in a dire situation Grand Chief Gringott, expecting to need all the influence that I could bring to bear, so I claimed all titles and holdings which were rightfully mine. I was not expecting the House of Slytherin, that must have come from my mother."

The goblin's eyes widened when he heard this young wizard addressing him by his proper name and title, because they were something that very few wizards or witches had ever been privy to. Harry nodded at his surprise. "That is something Lady Granger and I need to tell you..."

At that Gringott looked at Hermione and she held out the hand with her house rings. Once again, he touched each in turn and his eyes widened as he realised that she had been accepted as the head of the other two Founders' houses. Looking up, he realised that all seven of the original Noble Houses of Magical Britain were represented between these two, as Lord Potter was also the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. He mused that something was definitely going on here.

Gringott waved them to seats and indicated that they should tell the story they came here to tell. He got more and more angry as he heard how the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot had interfered with the inheritance and threatened the very existence of the most important wizarding family in Magical Britain in the eyes of the Goblin Nation. He called for the Potter wills to be brought to him while he did full inheritance tests on both children.

When the wills showed exactly what Harry had said they would, with Ted and Andi the second choice after Frank and Alice Longbottom, who were in St Mungo's after losing their minds from being cursed almost to death by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Junior. Gringott formally registered the Tonks as Harry's guardians (as the wills had legal precedence over whatever Dumbledore had wrangled in the Wizengamot), and they moved on to securing Hermione a suitable magical guardian.

Madam Bones suddenly burst out laughing as they were poring over Hermione's family trees. "There! No-one would be brave enough to try anything against Hermione with him as her guardian, and they're closely enough related to shoot down any arguments."

The others looked at the name she indicated and laughed in agreement, even more amused by the fact that the terrifying Baron Alastor Moody was actually part of the Hufflepuff family. With Hermione's agreement, Madam Bones floo called Alastor and asked him to come through because there was something important to discuss. He came through ready to fight, but Amelia Bones was one of the few people he trusted enough to stand down at her word.

He took in the office at a glance and knew that it belonged to a highly ranked goblin, but when he saw Gringott he stopped, because Alastor was actually an unspeakable, and as such was privy to far more information than most wizards. This meant that he was one of very few wizards who could recognise (or knew of) the Noble Goblins who ruled the Goblin nation, and that gave him a good idea of who it was standing in front of him. That was confirmed less than a minute later when the goblin nodded his permission to Harry and Harry made introductions. "Baron Alastor Moody, please allow me to introduce Gringott the Eighth, Head Goblin and Grand Chief of the Clans of the Goblin Nation."

Alastor bowed to Gringott, greeting him with the proper salutations that few wizards knew, and Gringott returned the greeting with equal respect, something that wasn't missed by Alastor or Harry (they were the only ones in the room with enough knowledge of goblin protocol to recognise it). They showed Alastor Hermione's family tree and explained the situation to him, something which required them going over a lot of the same ground that they'd already covered. Seeing the wills, and the evidence that Dumbledore had deliberately sealed them to allow him to act totally against the wishes of the Potters after having witnessed both wills eliminated what trust that he had held in Albus Dumbledore.

Having Amelia show him the transcript of what Harry and Hermione had told her the night before, which had since been confirmed by the wills, as well as locating Peter Pettigrew in animagis form in the Gryffindor dorm, the horcrux made out of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of Requirement and the horcrux made out of Helga Hufflepuff's cup in the Lestrange vault was enough to break down any remaining disbelief of what Harry and Hermione were saying. Amelia also showed him the proof confirming that Sirius Black had never been tried (or his so-called crimes investigated for that matter) and Gringott confirmed that Sirius had been Lord Black since his Grandfather had died earlier that year, and that Harry, as his heir, was formally listed as Heir to the House of Black.

Gringott formally registered Alastor as Hermione's guardian, and at Alastor's request and with her agreement she was formally made heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Moody, as he was the last of the Moody family. The magic showed when Alastor was accepted as Hermione's guardian (just as it had when Andi and Ted were accepted as Harry's guardians), and Hermione glowed and changed slightly again as she was accepted by the Moody family magic as the Heiress to the House of Moody.

Searches were kicked off by both sides for Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones, as they had been trusted and talented friends of Harry's parents and they could uphold their promises made to James and Lily to look after Harry by tutoring and protecting Harry and Hermione.

* * *

When they finished at Gringotts, Ted went with Amelia to meet with Sirius and prepare the case for his trial tomorrow, while Andi and Alastor accompanied Harry and Hermione on a shopping trip, getting all new clothes and robes for both of them, along with a collection of top of the line multi-compartment trunks.

There was a little known and ridiculously expensive option that could be added by the select few who knew how to do it to trunks that had the requisite charms frameworks, private floo connections or networks to link them. The twenty trunks they got with the floo option along with extensive security and protection charms and wards and other extras cost more than the shop could normally make in four good years, so the people who owned the shop did not argue about being obliviated of all details of the sale once everything had been proved to be working and they had confirmation that the money had been transferred to their vault. The floo option was so expensive that they'd never heard of more than three being ordered together before so ordering nearly seven times that many at once was hard to comprehend, but they weren't about to ask any questions of the scary man who came in to place the order as they didn't want anything to jeopardise the incredible windfall of this sale.

When they got the trunks, one went to Alastor's house, two to the Tonks' home and Ted's office, two to Amelia's home and office, one to Gringott's office, one to Potter Manor, one was placed in a chamber in Nobles Tower and Harry and Hermione each got one as a safe room, the other ten were kept for when their group expanded, though three more were already earmarked for Black House, Longbottom Manor and Professor McGonagall's office. After the shopping trip, they dropped off trunks to Gringott, Amelia and Ted, and Alastor's house, then used Harry's Potter House ring as a port key to take them to Potter Manor.

Even Alastor and Andi were astounded by Potter Manor, because it was the most magnificent Manor House in Magical Britain (possibly all of Britain), and the best hidden as well, so very few people outside the family had ever seen it. The Potter house elves didn't need the Potter House ring to recognise Harry though, they recognised the magical signature of the baby who had been born there eleven years before as soon as he entered the wards, even if he had been gone from the Manor since before his first birthday, so they flocked out of the house to greet him.

They didn't stay long at Potter Manor, the visit was mainly to get the others added to the wards and leave one of the trunks there to serve as a portal to the Manor, but they had another significant meeting while they were there, with ones who had been bonded to Harry at birth. One of Harry's more adventurous ancestors had brought back a breeding stock of Mngwas from Africa in the late eighteen hundreds, and tradition had it that at least one of them was bonded to each of the Heirs of House Potter at birth. This pair had been born just before Harry was taken away to Godric's Hollow, and when they felt his magic as he entered the wards, they came running.

It was a shock for Harry when they 'talked' to him in his head, and an even bigger shock for Hermione when they did the same to her, because they recognised her link with Harry. At first, they thought that the cats were kneazles, or half kneazles, but they were disabused of _that_ notion when Alastor got impatient and tried to pull them away from Harry and Hermione so that they could leave. In a flash, they both transformed into ferocious looking donkey sized big cats and started stalking towards him with murderous intent. It took quite an effort to calm them down and get them to change back into their 'cat' forms.

When he had his breath back, there was no animosity in the look Alastor was sending the cats' way, just awe and admiration. "OK, I've changed my mind, you definitely want to bring these two along! You couldn't get better protectors than them, especially the way they look like fairly ordinary cats most of the time." Harry and Hermione asked whether they wanted to come with them and there was no question that the answer was _**"YES!"**_ , so as soon as Hermione, Andi and Alistor's magical signatures had been added to the Manor's wards, Crookshanks and Bastet (for some reason, those were the names that were accepted for the male who got on with Hermione and the female who only really warmed to Harry) were in their arms when they apparated back to Hogsmeade. They let them down then and they trotted up to Hogwarts beside them.

* * *

Of course, Dumbledore tried to ban Andi and Alastor from Hogwarts when he was advised that they were the first of the staff that Lord Potter and Lady Granger would be retaining there, and he started ranting that the original Hogwarts Charter didn't apply any more. Unfortunately for him, Gringott and Amelia had dug out confirmation of what the Grey Lady had told the professors the night before, that the magic of Hogwarts Charter was too strong to be overturned by the Ministry or anyone else and anyone who tried to overturn it would fail. Furthermore, trying to use underhanded measures to go against the charter had always had disastrous consequences for anyone who did so. Dumbledore still fought tooth and nail against every one of the rights that they'd decided to claim, but that seemed more an attempt to maintain his self image than anything else.

Andi had mixed feelings about one development at Hogwarts, as Madam Bones had taken her daughter Nymphadora out of the Auror Academy where she'd just started and assigned her as part of the protective detail for Harry and Hermione at Hogwarts, with Alastor taking over her training. While this meant that Dora would almost certainly be far better trained than any other new Auror, from the stories Harry and Hermione had told them, being at Hogwarts and near Harry was going to be a very dangerous place to be.

When she arrived in Nobles Tower via the trunk floo, Dora was shocked to see her mother there and blurted out. "Mum? What the hell are you doing here?"

The others could see from the smirk on Andi's face that she was planning to have fun with this, and Harry and Hermione were reminded of Sirius's rather twisted sense of humour. Andi showed that she shared it when she said. "Nymphadora, say hello to your foster brother Harry."

"How many times do I have to tell you _**not**_ to call me that?… Wait, what? Did you say foster brother?"

Andi flashed a look of anger as she replied. "Yes Dora, Harry was supposed to be raised by Frank and Alice Longbottom until your Aunt and that loathsome family of her's destroyed them. Your father and I were James and Lily's next choice to raise him but some interfering old bastard sealed their wills and sent him to the one family that James and Lily were adamant Harry was never to go anywhere near, Lily's Muggle sister and her husband. We were confirmed as his guardians today, so I'll be staying here to look after him and Hermione until we locate the friends who will be brought in to tutor them in the subjects that they will be studying separately, and I'll be popping in and out after that, tutoring them on some subjects and dealing with the business of Harry's houses, as he's made me his Regent."

She waved to Alastor. "Have you met Baron Moody before Dora? He was confirmed as Hermione's guardian today and has made her his heir. Alastor has agreed to take over your training for Madam Bones, and I expect that Harry and Hermione will be joining you in that training. He will also be staying here as well."

Andi suddenly smiled. "Don't say anything but Harry has given us all the evidence we need to get Sirius cleared of all those charges and have him released. Your father is working on the case with Madam Bones and it's going in front of the Wizengamot tomorrow."

That got her, Harry, Hermione and even Alastor hugged, because 'Uncle Siri' had been a favourite of Dora's when she was a little girl.

As Dora sat down and started chatting, Harry and Hermione looked at each other, thinking the same thing, they preferred Dora to Tonks. They had liked Tonks, but the outside world, and probably having to give in to what men wanted, had hardened her, _Dora_ was more fun, open and happy. They silently agreed that they had another goal, to help her keep Dora.

Dinner that night in the Great Hall was tense, because Dumbledore and most of the Slytherin table kept glaring at them, and they could hear what was being muttered at the Slytherin table as well. To blend in, Dora wore her school robes (silently thanking her mother for not letting her burn them when she finished a few months ago like she wanted to), and while some students wondered who the Hufflepuff sitting with Potter's group was, she was generally ignored.

After dinner, Neville and Sue came to Nobles Tower to see Harry and Hermione's new digs, and they were quite impressed, even more so with those incredible trunks that provided almost impregnable safe rooms and secure portals to the Tonks and Bones homes and Gringotts among other places.

To avoid another incident like Alastor's, Harry and Hermione had Bastet and Crookshanks transform into their full Mngwa forms, so that the others, including Bonnie, knew what they really were, XXXX (almost XXXXX) creatures that could be extremely dangerous when provoked. Of course, that meant that the other girls were a little frightened and less inclined to cuddle the Mngwas after they saw what they turned into.

Dora escorted Neville and Sue back to the Hufflepuff dorms before curfew, but Harry and Hermione had trouble sleeping that night, it wasn't nightmares, they were nervous and excited about what was going to happen tomorrow. It was mainly excited, because they were sure everything would go as planned, but there was still the niggling little worry that something _m_ _ight_ go wrong.

 **A/N: I've seen the idea of trunks with floo connections in a few stories before, but it's never been quite how I'd do it and I thought I'd have a go as it's a cool idea IMHO.**


	2. Declaration of War

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

In the morning, Bonnie had Harry and Hermione up and ready early again, and it was fun to see the formidable Madeye Moody being cowed by a house elf, because Bonnie kept pushing him until he was ready. Andi was ready before the rest of them, but then eighteen years of trying to get Dora ready on time had made her quite organised.

The first inking anyone else in the Wizengamot chamber had of what Amelia Bones was doing was when the ticket was read out, 'Insults and threats against the Head of four Noble and Most Ancient Houses and the Heir to another Ancient and Most Noble House by the Head of a greatly inferior Noble House, and related matters.' Dumbledore tried to demand an explanation for the wording of the ticket but Amelia cut him off, pointing out that he _must_ recuse himself as Chief Warlock for this session due to his known relationship with and support for the accused, and that he would also be required as a witness in this matter. Dumbledore tried to refuse but was shouted down by the majority of the Wizengamot, members of the light and neutral factions who were angry that he had gotten his pet Death Eater off of any charges and in fact prevented him from being questioned by anyone as the Chief Warlock, and members of the dark factions who could sense blood in the water and that this may well come back at Dumbledore himself.

Dumbledore grudgingly stood down and accepted that his only role in this session would be as a witness, while Griselda Marchbanks stepped in as the Acting Chief Witch for the session as the most senior member of the Wizengamot. The choice of Madam Marchbanks worried some of the factions, because it was well known that she would be unyielding on matters of protocol, but there was no way of challenging her as protocol demanded that the most senior member of the Wizengamot took up the position of Acting Chief Witch or Wizard.

Amelia managed to hide the satisfied smile on her face as Madam Marchbanks was accepted as the Acting Chief Witch from most people in the chamber, but Harry caught it and felt relief wash over him, as that meant that so far at least this was playing out as Madam Bones had planned it. Dumbledore made a play at being made Snape's advocate, but Madam Marchbanks just frowned at him and asked whether he'd forgotten that he was to be a witness in this case as she dismissed his petition.

The next play was Amelia's as she called for Harry to be officially recognised as the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. That caused a stir but Madam Marchbanks allowed it as this underpinned the nature of the charges. Most in the chamber were shocked when the magic upheld all of these titles. When Amelia called for Lady Granger to also be officially recognised as a related matter, Madam Marchbanks was dubious but allowed it due to her respect for Amelia. If anything, the Wizengamot members were even more shocked when the magic upheld this unknown's right to claim the titles of Head of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and the Noble House of Granger, and Heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Moody.

Madam Longbottom stood at that point and asked for a clarification on a point of protocol, when she was given leave to continue she dropped a cat among the pigeons. "Madam Chief Witch, does not protocol require that any seats in contention be excluded from voting until such time as they have been resolved?"

Madam Marchbanks didn't need to check that. "Yes, Madam Longbottom, that is correct."

"Well then, any seats occupied for the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Black, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Granger must be vacated for this session, must they not Madam Marchbanks? I see Baron Moody here and am aware that there is no question of his right to the seat for the House of Moody but I believe that the rest of the seats are in question."

Madam Marchbanks looked around the chamber and saw that, indeed, the seats for every house except for Granger were currently occupied. "Agreed, Madam Longbottom, the seats for the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Black, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff will be vacated and no votes will be accepted from those seats until their rightful holders have been accepted."

Outrage broke out around the chamber and the Aurors had to step in to regain the peace. When the holders of those seats had been removed and the noise had died down, Harry asked if he may say something. Madam Marchbanks quelled the new outbursts at that and gave Harry leave to continue.

"I am unsure as to the proper protocol here, Madam Chief Witch, but as I have been accepted as the Head of the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin, am I allowed to proclaim my proxy for those seats and allow them to vote in my stead at this time?"

"Yes Lord Potter, that is quite acceptable."

"Thank you Madam Chief Witch, in that case I proclaim my guardian and regent, Baroness Andromeda Tonks, my proxy for those seats."

(One of the things they'd done the day before was to formally allocate a Barony to Andi in a move to strengthen her position in Noble House Politics.)

It only took a look from Madam Marchbanks to quieten the outbursts and she said. "So be it, Baroness Andromeda Tonks holds the voting proxies for the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin!"

She smiled as Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Lady Granger?"

"May I also do the same for the proxies for my houses, Madam Chief Witch?"

"Of course Lady Granger."

"Thank you Madam Chief Witch, I hereby proclaim that my guardian and regent, Baron Alastor Moody, holds my proxies for the Houses of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Granger."

Madam Marchbanks nodded. "So be it, Baron Alastor Moody holds the voting proxies for the Houses of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Granger!"

There was a brief delay as the clerk of the court recorded the changes and Andi took her seat in the Potter box. There was considerable muttering going on around the chamber as these moves had just significantly changed the balance of power in the Wizengamot.

* * *

Amelia's next move was almost as shocking when she asked Harry and Hermione, as the highest ranking people involved, whether they objected to being questioned under Veritaserum to ensure the veracity of their statements. When they both assured her that they had no issues with that, she then proposed that the use of Veritaserum be allowed for all witnesses for the duration of the session. Even Madam Marchbanks questioned the need for that, but Amelia insisted that without surety of the witness statements, they could not unearth the truth of what happened. Madam Marchbanks put it to the vote and with Andi and Alastor holding Harry and Hermione's proxies and the Black votes disallowed, it scraped through.

They started by getting statements from the students and Professors Flitwick and Sprout, who had been brought in to testify about what had happened in the Great Hall during Harry's sorting ceremony, and there were quite a few looks at Dumbledore when they reported that he was demanding that Harry be resorted, because people wanted to know why he was trying to interfere with what house Harry Potter, or any other student was in. There were even more looks when the students who were caught out trying to tell a different story admitted that Dumbledore had told them what to say. Most people couldn't work out why Amelia wasn't questioning Dumbledore, but the bright ones in the chamber could see that she was playing a bigger game here.

When Amelia started questioning Snape under Veritaserum, she had little trouble goading him into a diatribe about how Harry was just like his father, and used that to lead into a comment that it didn't appear that he was at all bothered that Harry's father had been murdered by Lord Voldemort which prompted another diatribe, which in turn have her the opening to start questioning him about his involvement in the murders of James and Lily Potter. Dumbledore tried to stop the questioning but Amelia had him bound and silenced.

Of course, Dumbledore and the others had no idea that Amelia had had everything scripted for her by Harry and Hermione. Once she had enough proof to accept that they knew many things that they could not know by any logical explanation, they told her the real story of what had happened in the last cycle, so she knew exactly where to prod to get Snape, and Dumbledore when his turn came, to admit their crimes.

As Snape and Dumbledore's parts in what happened to the Potters and Longbottoms came out, outrage in the chamber increased. In the end the insults and threats against Harry were a nonentity, as Snape had admitted to being a Death Eater who had had an active part in the murders of Lord and Lady Potter and the attempted murder of the current Lord Potter, as well as the attack that had left Lord and Lady Longbottom in a non-functioning state in St Murgo's for the past ten years and Heir Longbottom effectively an orphan.

Madam Marchbanks had to hold the Wizengamot back until the questioning was finished, because they were clamouring for Snape's head. The chamber stilled when Madam Bones finally began questioning Dumbledore under Veritaserum, though the noise grew as he admitted to having used Snape for his own purposes rather than warning the Potters and Longbottoms that Voldemort and his followers were coming after them, or warning so many others of the threats against them before they were killed because he had decided that allowing them to save themselves would jeopardise _his_ plans for his 'greater good'. While she had him under Veritaserum, Amelia made him admit that his 'greater good' was no more than a Pureblood Magical Britain that was controlled by him.

She also got him to admit how many students he'd moulded and/or compelled to follow him while they were under his control at Hogwarts, making a note of how many of them had died in the service of his 'greater good' because they had believed his lies. At that point she brought out the Potters' wills and got him to admit that he had had them sealed because as a witness to the wills, he knew that if their instructions were followed it would interfere with his plans to use their son (the new Lord of four Noble and Most Ancient Houses) as a sacrifice to put Voldemort in a position where _he_ could vanquish him and gain the acclaim he was due as the 'Leader of the Light', because that would have cemented him into the role of the Leader of Magical Britain.

The fact that it was clearly stated in both wills that Peter Pettigrew had been the secret keeper for the Potters' cottage in Godric Hollow contradicted Dumbledore's testimony that it was Sirius Black paved the way to opening the next act of the game being played out, and Pettigrew was brought in for questioning. He testified under Veritaserum that he had been the Potter's secret keeper, that Dumbledore had known because he had cast the fidelius charm, that he had been a Death Eater since he finished at Hogwarts and that he'd taken Voldemort to the Potters' cottage and betrayed them to their deaths. He also testified about how, when Sirius caught up with him, he'd accused Sirius of his own crimes, cut his own finger off to leave it as evidence and cast the spell that resulted in the explosion that killed all those muggles before he escaped in his animagus form.

Amelia gave Arthur a regretful look before she questioned Pettigrew about what his animagus form was and where he'd been hiding for the past decade. Arthur paled when Pettigrew testified that his animagus form was a rat and that he'd been hiding with the Weasley family as a pet of two of their sons for that period. When the derision and accusations started flying, Amelia was trying to work out how to stop this without ruining her case when Augusta Longbottom did it for her, standing up and shouting out that it was well known that Arthur Weasley had to work long and hard hours to support his family and challenging a number of the hecklers about their knowledge of their own children's pets, proving her point when she knew better than them in many cases.

There was a sure fire way of getting the attention off Arthur though and it was something that Amelia was determined to come out, so she launched into questioning Pettigrew about the names of any and all active Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters that he knew of. That made a good portion of the Chamber try to stop her, because they did _not_ want that to come out, but Madam Marchbanks saw where she was going and shut them down. Each time Pettigrew named someone who was in the chamber as a Death Eater or Voldemort supporter under Veritaserum, that person was stunned and bound by the Aurors that Amelia had in the chamber for that purpose. The ones being identified from the dark factions were expected, but the extent to which ranks of the light and neutral factions were also being thinned as a result of that was a surprise to many in the chamber. When she had gotten all of the names she could out of Pettigrew, she put Snape under Veritaserum again and repeated the process with him, and the ranks of those being held for questioning expanded as a result of that.

With a good third of the Wizengamot being held for questioning and the matter being moot as a result of the previous testimonies, she brought Sirius in and questioned him under Veritaserum to confirm that he was not guilty of any of the crimes that he had been accused of and sent to Azkaban without a trial for. She also questioned Cornelius Fudge and Barty Crouch about their parts in Sirius's incarceration and they both admitted that they had fabricated the evidence against him to make it an open and shut case because Crouch had been convinced of Sirius's guilt and determined to put him away.

There was little question of the vote to officially clear Sirius of all charges against him as the Head for a Noble and Most Ancient House, though getting a ruling of a hundred thousand galleons compensation per year of incarceration for his false and illegal imprisonment was a surprise, as was being awarded half of the worth of the Fudge and Crouch families for their parts in his unlawful incarceration. The amount that was transferred from the Fudge vaults to the Black vaults was to raise questions about where Minister Fudge had gotten all of that money from when it was made known.

Madam Marchbanks supported the contention that Sirius should be allowed to formally claim his titles and holdings then and there, and once he had done so, he also proclaimed Baroness Andromeda Tonks as his Wizengamot Proxy. Between Harry's and Sirius's votes, Andi controlled more votes in the Wizengamot than any other, and when voting with Alastor, and Augusta Longbottom (who also held the voting proxies for the Noble and Ancient Houses of Bones and McGonagall), they could control the vote with so many votes voided because the Wizengamot members were being held for questioning.

* * *

As Snape's, Pettigrew's and Dumbledore's parts in this were done, they were called back for sentencing, Snape was sentenced to life in Azkaban and all titles, holdings and wealth of the Snape and Prince families were awarded to the Potter family by right of conquest (this was the accepted term whether they had been bested on a battlefield or in a courtroom), while the Snape and Prince family names were permanently eradicated in Magical Britain.

Pettigrew was sentenced to the Dementor's kiss and to be cast through the Veil of Death, while his order of Merlin, First Class, was officially and publicly revoked. At Harry's suggestion, all titles, holdings and wealth of the Pettigrew family were awarded to the Weasley family by right of conquest and the Pettigrew name was permanently eradicated in Magical Britain.

Dumbledore was formally and publicly stripped of his positions of Headmaster of Hogwarts, Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot of Magical Britain and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and sentenced to fifteen years in Azkaban for his crimes against Magical Britain. It was ruled that everything in his possession that rightfully belonged to others was to be returned to their rightful owners (there was a list of known objects that were to be recovered before the rest was sifted through). It was further ruled that all monies stolen from the Potter family and gained through the false and unlawful promotion of the Harry Potter name while he claimed to be Lord Potter's guardian would be recovered and returned to the Potter family. Any and all moneys unlawfully taken from Hogwarts would be returned to Hogwarts. One quarter of his remaining worth would be awarded to the Potter family, and one quarter to the Longbottom family for his part in the near eradication of their families. The other half was to be distributed on an equitable basis between others adversely effected by Dumbledore's willingness to sacrifice anyone else in the pursuit of his own fame and fortune. The Dumbledore name was left intact as there were other members of the Dumbledore family who were innocent of his actions.

Dumbledore looked like a broken man at that point, but Harry and Hermione were waiting for him to play the same trump card that he had in the last cycle, so they were ready when he straightened up and called for Fawkes when he was unshackled. As soon as Fawkes appeared though, Harry cried out. "Fawkes _**stop**_! Look inside him and decide whether this man is worthy of being rescued from his fate, decide whether he is worthy of your support!"

Dumbledore grabbed at the phoenix as it stayed just out of reach, shouting. "Fawkes, come here! You must get me out of here!" but Fawkes pulled further back, regarding Dumbledore with what appeared to be a concerned look until he suddenly gave a cry of obvious anguish and burst into flame. Everyone just stared as the flames died out and there was nothing but a cascade of ash to the floor. Dumbledore dropped to his knees and started frantically sifting through the ash, crying out. "Fawkes, Fawkes, what are you doing? You have to get me out of here!" until the Aurors dragged him to his feet and secured him with magic suppressing shackles. The way Dumbledore was mumbling to himself as he was dragged from the chamber made it more believable that he was a broken man.

Professors Flitwick and Sprout took the other students back to Hogwarts via port key after Dumbledore and Snape were sentenced. They tried to insist that Harry and Hermione come with them, but Professor Flitwick got a shock when Harry addressed him in fluent Goblin. " _Haven't you worked it out yet Professor?_ _Hermione and I_ _ha_ _ve already experienced this and have to stay to ensure that the guilty are punished and the innocent are protected if we hope to defeat these monsters. I_ _have left an envelope with_ _Professor_ _McGonagall_ _with everything we can tell you at the moment,_ _she should have read it by now_ _. She_ _is_ _now_ _Acting Headmistress and I_ _a_ _m sure we_ _will_ _get her confirmed_ _in that position_ _. Please do n_ _o_ _t be offended but we_ _a_ _re recommending that Professor Sprout becomes Deputy Headmistress due to others' prejudice_ _s_ _that we_ _wi_ _ll have to fight for a while yet._ _ **Do n**_ _ **o**_ _ **t**_ _trust Professor Q_ _u_ _irrell as he_ _i_ _s possessed by Voldemort, but don't let him know that you know or make any moves against him yet because there are a few other things we need to do before we can destroy_ _Voldemort_ _properly._ _Luckily he has n_ _o_ _t found out how to get by Fluffy yet, so that will make him bide his time._ _I_ _ha_ _ve included details of where I believe Horace Slughorn_ _to be_ _at the moment_ _along with some suggestions on how to sway him to agree to come back. W_ _hile he is a rather flawed individual, I believe he is the best option for a Potions Master who_ _can_ _bring Hogwarts back up to where it should be. He should n_ _o_ _t be made Slytherin House Master_ _though as_ _he would further warp the students, Professor Sinistra is a better choice for that, she can lead them in a better direction._ _That_ _i_ _s as much as I can tell you for now, I promise that we_ _wi_ _ll tell you the whole truth when we have the chance, but today, the business here must be addressed while we have the chance._ _I_ _t_ _w_ _ould be advisable to prevent anyone at the school from sending owls or making floo calls until this business is resolved,_ _I included a note on how Professor McGonagall can do that as the Acting Headmistress_ _, hopefully she has already done it._ _"_

Professor Flitwick stared at him for about thirty seconds and then nodded, relying in Goblin. _"Very well Lord Potter, we will be holding you to your promise to tell the whole story when the time is right, but I accept that other matters have priority at this time. Please let us know if you and Lady Granger are not returning tonight or will be late, otherwise we will worry about you."_

Harry bowed to him, answering him in English. "We will professor, but we expect to be back tonight."

Professor Flitwick reached up to squeeze his shoulder, saying. "Take care Lord Potter." before he left the chamber with Professor Sprout and the other students.

* * *

Questioning the Wizengamot and Ministry members who were captured because they were known as Death Eaters or Voldemort supporters took most of the day, and the number trebled as more names came out in the questioning. The Death Eaters were either sentenced to life in Azkaban or the Veil of Death, depending on the severity of their crimes. After hearing of the atrocities that they had committed, the vote was for the Veil of Death for most of them, usually preceded by the Dementor's Kiss as just going through the Veil seemed too easy after what they had done. Their Wizengamot seats, titles, holdings and wealth were all seized and allocated to the families of their victims or the Ministry and with few exceptions, their family names were eradicated in Magical Britain.

Voldemort's other supporters weren't dealt with quite so harshly, most of them got terms in Azkaban, but few had committed crimes sufficiently onerous to merit being sentenced to go through the Veil. Varying percentages of their families' titles, holdings and wealth were taken for compensation to their victims or the Ministry and only a small number of their family names were eradicated.

As they were being sentenced and taken to Azkaban, others already there were being brought back for trial, both Death Eaters being retried and ones who had been sent to Azkaban without trial. Most of the Death Eaters brought in from Azkaban were sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss and the Veil of Death after they testified to the true nature of their crimes under Veritaserum. Their families' titles, holdings and wealth were seized and reallocated to their victims, or to fund the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's efforts to effectively deal with threats such as them. (Fudge's eyes had gleamed when he saw the fortunes going to the Ministry until Augusta proposed that a ruling be made that this money carefully controlled and only be used in the fight against threats of a similar nature and it was passed.)

After they heard the Lestranges' testimony, it was ruled that all titles, holdings and wealth of the Lestrange family was to go to the Longbottom family by right of conquest and the Lestrange name was eradicated. Bellatrix cackled madly as she was dragged out of the room to be given the Dementor's kiss and thrown through the Veil with her husband and brother-in-law. As a result of their testimony, it was also ruled that two thirds of the remaining worth of the Crouch family go to the Longbottom family as compensation for Barty Crouch Junior's part in the attack and torture of Lord and Lady Longbottom.

When Antonin Dolohov was questioned, they extracted the names of the others who had been involved in the murders of Fabian and Gideon Prewett and it was ruled that the majority of the titles, holdings and wealth of the five families would go the Prewett family, while the family names of the five Death Eaters were eradicated. All five were sentenced to the Kiss and Veil.

Arthur Weasley received a note at that point advising him that the current Head of the House of Prewett was his second son Charlus, but he had not yet accepted his title so he was most probably unaware of this fact. He was also advised not to mention the monies received by the Prewett family to his wife or anyone else until after he had gone to St Mungo's and had himself officially tested for potions poisoning and illegal charms. When he looked up in confusion, he saw Amelia Bones looking at him with a grim, regretful expression. Arthur nodded at her hesitantly and she returned the nod.

The rest of the day was much the same, listening to stories that were assured to give them all nightmares and determining the most equitable distribution of what was being seized from the monsters.

* * *

By the end of the session, the population of Azkaban had actually been reduced, and nearly all of the marked Death Eaters had been put through the Veil of Death, so that they couldn't be broken out and used in Voldemort's new rise as they had in the last cycle.

One person who was part of the Death Eater circles who was granted leniency after being questioned was Narcissa Malfoy. The Malfoy name was eradicated in Magical Britain and all of their titles, holdings and wealth confiscated, but Harry and Hermione believed that there was a chance of redemption for Sirius's cousin, so they arranged for her to be brought in and questioned under Veritaserum in front of the Wizengamot. Enough were convinced by her testimony that she hadn't committed any onerous acts that she was made free to go.

Harry had primed up Amelia before the Aurors went to Malfoy Manor to collect her, so she had Kingsley Shacklebolt retrieve Riddle's diary that would have been used to possess Ginny Weasley in a year's time while he was there and ask Narcissa whether there was anything in the house that should be reported. Even though she didn't know that Lucius had already gone through the Veil, she showed them the vault full of dark objects and some of the Aurors were left there to organise the removal of them. That act of good faith stood her in good stead when she was in front of the Wizengamot.

Some tried to say that she had followed her husband's path and was therefore culpable, but Augusta Longbottom stood and reminded them that their society upheld the rule of the husband over the wife, and therefore a wife who disobeyed her husband was generally punished and often cast out. She stopped and looked at ones she knew had families. "The leverage generally used against women in our society is our children, threats of harm to them or having them removed from us is usually enough to make us comply. Can any here say that they would refuse to do something when faced with a threat to their children?" Some still tried to argue, but most conceded her point and Narcissa was set free.

The last act of the session was to get Madam Marchbanks confirmed as the Chief Witch of the Wizengamot. She argued against this at first, but she gave in to Augusta and Amelia's reasoning in the end. One thing that she did insist on was to have a meeting with the two young people who had apparently engineered this, the most telling strike against the enemies of Magical Britain in its history.

When they left the Wizengamot, Sirius, Narcissa, Amelia, Alastor, Andi, Dora, Harry and Hermione went to Black House in Grimmauld Place to retrieve the horcrux that had been made out of the Slytherin locket and leave one of the trunks there to serve as a secure portal. They assured the Black's house elf Kreacher that what was in the locket would be destroyed as Master Regulus had ordered him to do, and Sirius ordered him to clean the house and move all of the dark objects to the cellar as someone would be coming in to remove them. The last thing they did before they left was remove Sirius's mother's portrait from the wall (having an unspeakable with you can be handy, as they tend to know spells that others don't) and took it to Gringotts to be put into the Black vault.

Sirius had called for and received the dissolution of Narcissa's marriage to Lucius Malfoy so Narcissa was a Black again, and as Malfoy Manor had been claimed as part of the penalties on Lucius, he offered to let her stay at Black House, though he warned her that it would be in a terrible state. When Narcissa asked whether their house elves had been included in what was claimed and it was confirmed that they were not, she said that the Malfoy house elves could help clean up Black House.

What they saw at Black House confirmed what Sirius had said, so Narcissa called the Malfoy house elves to her and informed them of the fall of the House of Malfoy, telling them that they were Black elves now. She then had them pack up her and Draco's personal belongings and bring them to Black house, before she set them to work cleaning the house. Some items had to be later retrieved from their personal belongings as they hadn't been Lucius's to give and were part of what had to be redistributed, but for the most part they managed to keep their things.

* * *

As they'd observed throughout the day, Madam Marchbanks had a mind like a steel trap, and she didn't turn a hair when it was proposed that the meeting be held in the office of the Chief Goblin of Gringotts. Harry and Hermione were present, along with Andi, Alastor, Dora, Amelia, Augusta and Sirius.

As they sat down, Amelia handed Griselda the transcripts of what Harry and Hermione had told her the previous day, and after reading for a while she looked up at the two so-called children and simply said. "You two have been through all of this before."

Harry looked at Hermione and she nudge him to respond, so he nodded. "Yes Ma'am. We don't know how it happened but we were thrown back to the start of Hogwarts after we were killed by our spouses and mother-in-law."

"You say that you don't know how, but don't mention why, does this mean that you _do_ know why?"

"Well we presume it's to stop two crazy men from killing thousands of people and destroying our world."

"Two… One is obviously Voldemort, who is the other, Dumbledore?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, between what he did, and didn't do, he was responsible for almost as much of the suffering and death as the one he claimed to be opposing so far and in the years to come."

"Claimed to be opposing?"

"Well he never went up against him directly himself and prevented people on his side from fighting against him effectively. For the next seven years his plan was pretty much to put me up against Voldemort year after year through my time at Hogwarts. I wasn't supposed to survive that though, he was quite miffed when I kept cheating death, especially after he so carefully set it up to make sure that I was ignorant, beaten and broken by the time I arrived at Hogwarts."

"You implied that Voldemort is a current threat, aren't you supposed to have killed him?"

" _I_ didn't do anything to him Ma'am, Mum, and maybe Dad as well, created some form of protective charm that apparently worked well enough to reflect the curse Voldemort threw at me back at him and destroyed his body. I just wish Mum had stepped aside and let him as he told her to, I might have still had her if she had."

"What do you mean destroyed his body Lord Potter, don't you mean killed him?"

"No, he took measures to anchor his soul to prevent him dying and he managed to exist as a shade. Over the years, he survived by possessing animals and people but they never lasted. At one point he was relying on unicorn blood to prevent himself fading away, but he managed to create a new body at the end of my fourth year through an ancient rite."

"You know too much about things that no-one should know of young man. What were these measures he took to anchor his soul?"

Harry looked at Gringott, who nodded and pressed a button, speaking quietly into something as Harry responded. "There is a process that allows you to tear your soul in two and anchor one half into another object. The process involves murder and it's supposed to involve a complex ritual, but at least one time he appeared to manage it by accident..."

At that point, a goblin entered the room carrying a tray with the four horcruxes that they had recovered on it, the diary, the locket, the diadem and the cup. Madam Marchbanks was forced to let go of any doubts as these foul objects were brought into the room. She was at once being repelled by their foul nature and compelled to grab them.

When he saw the point had been made, Gringott nodded at the goblin and he turned and left to return the objects to the warded container that prevented people from being effected by them.

Griselda looked at them wild eyed. "What in Merlin's name were those disgusting things?"

"They were the objects holding parts of his soul that I was referring to, well four of them anyway. We know of two more objects, plus the wizard that his shade is currently possessing. According to what we know, we have to destroy the six objects before we try to kill the wizard who is the host if we want Voldemort to be gone for good, but we have one little problem."

Hermione arced up at that. " _Little_ problem? It's a bloody big problem and we're not going there unless we have a guarantee that you're going to survive it!"

Griselda was looking between these children who were sounding like a married couple. "What are you two arguing about?"

Harry looked at her. "We have to retrieve one more object that's hidden in Voldemort's grandfather's house, but the problem is, the last object is..."

"It's Harry! When Voldemort tried to kill him, the curse rebounded, but Voldemort's soul split and one part was lodged in Harry. So now we have to work out how to get it out of him without killing him!"

She burst into tears and buried her face in Harry's shoulder. The others watched the pair without saying a word for a while, then Madam Marchbanks cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, but did you say that you were killed by your _spouses_? How in Merlin's name were you two _**ever**_ married to anyone else?"

Hermione straightened up and wiped the tears from her face before she turned to face the old woman. "In the world we just came back from, we were being potioned from the time we started at Hogwarts. Someone wanted to get their hands on Harry's family's money, so with Dumbledore's help he was being set up from before we got to Hogwarts. I quickly became a problem because we were friends and they could see that we liked each other, so they started potioning both of us to keep us apart. Harry was being focussed on a girl who was a year behind us and I was being focussed on her brother who was in our year. They kept increasing the potions to override our growing feelings for one another and after a few years they started introducing lust potions to tie us to the ones they wanted us concentrating on. As soon as we were old enough for marriage, they started feeding her fertility potions so that she'd get pregnant to force Harry to marry her. At that time I was just being fed lust potions so that her brother could use me as his reward for keeping me out of the way, but then they found out that I was the head of three houses and had lots of money too, so they dumped the plan to get rid of me as soon as Harry was married to her and they had their hooks into his money and started feeding me fertility potions as well so that I'd marry the brother as soon as possible so they could get their hands on my money too. I was six months pregnant and married to the brother when I was doing my NEWTs, but I still got 'O's, she was five months pregnant and married to Harry at that time. After the babies were born, they waited long enough to make sure they'd be OK and then killed us together at a family dinner with our mother-in-law. It should have occurred to us that it was suspicious that our father-in-law wasn't there..."

She looked at Madam Marchbanks. "He didn't know anything about it, he is a good man that she's kept under control by potioning him continuously for the last twenty five years or more and was still potioning seven and a half years from now."

"So yes, I was married to and had a child to another man and Harry was married to and had a child with another woman, but nothing we felt for them was real, they kept upping the doses of the love potions to try and drown out what Harry and I felt for each other. I was kept away from him for seven and a half years and I won't lose him to some bloody solution meant to save everyone _else_ now!"

Hermione drew a breath and then looked her in the eye. "I know that you see us as a couple of eleven year olds because that's what we are on the outside, but on the inside Harry's eighteen and I'm nineteen, and you better believe that anyone who tries to take us away from each other will be in for a fight. You should know, Harry killed a fully grown mountain troll and Voldemort's host when he was eleven, and a seventy foot, thousand year old basilisk when he was twelve. He drove off a hundred dementors by himself when he was thirteen and won the Triwizard Tournament and successfully duelled Voldemort when he was fourteen." She looked at Alastor. " _You_ respected him and said that he was better than many Aurors at fifteen, that was after we'd had to deal with Barty Crouch Junior polyjuiced as you for a year..."

She suddenly stopped and looked at Harry. "Oh no! Crouch! We forgot about him!"

Amelia tried to calm her. "Hermione, relax, Barty Junior is dead..."

"No he isn't! His mother was dying when he went to Azkaban, so at her request his father used his position to force things through so that she could visit him. They used polyjuice to trade places and she was buried as him when she died soon after, Barty Senior paid a healer to declare her dead after their son supposedly died in Azkaban, then held a fake funeral and kept his son imperioused for thirteen years at home. As I recall Barty Junior should be at the Crouch house now, he is normally kept under a cloak of invisibility and their elf, Winky, looks after him."

Amelia asked Gringott if she could use his floo and he waved her to it. When she came back, Hermione said. "When you take Crouch down, I want Winky to come to us. She was terribly mistreated by Crouch even though she was devoted to them."

Harry hugged her and she kissed him on the cheek before turning back to the others. "My point is that we may look like kids but Harry can beat most adults and many Aurors and I'm not that far behind him. We may have been older in the last cycle, but don't forget that due to our family magic we are far stronger magically than we were at this age there, physically stronger too. _No-one_ is sacrificing Harry this time and if Molly Bloody Weasley gets anywhere near either of us, I'll kill the bitch!"

Amelia stared at her. "Of course! That's why you told me to send Arthur to St Mungo's and tell him not to tell her about the money that came to the House of Prewett, she's the one who did this to you!"

She hesitated. "So who?..."

"Ron and Ginny, from Harry's run in with him on the Hogwarts Express I doubt that he's redeemable, I don't know about her, but she isn't our problem!"

"What about the others?"

"I don't know about Percy, but she told us that Arthur and his sons, that is Bill, Charlie and the twins, didn't know anything about it and I believe that because they always stood by us."

" _His_ sons? Then who's are the others?"

"I don't know, that is something that Arthur will have to work out after he sorts out the current mess if he wants to know."

Amelia shook her head. "Poor Arthur… He's a good man, he doesn't deserve this, doesn't deserve her."

Griselda spoke up then. "Molly Prewett was always a useless little slut, I'm surprised that she can say that Bilius is Arthur's, the way she was trying to bed most of the boys at Hogwarts. It makes sense that she's a potioner though, potions was the only subject she was ever any good at. I should have realised that she had an agenda."

She shook her head. "Anyway, Lord Potter, Lady Granger, you've convinced me. I will work with you to bring these factions down and make our world safer. I'm actually looking forward to it now."

Harry nodded to her. "Thank you Madam Marchbanks. Our first priority is to get rid of Voldemort and his followers, but there are plenty of other problems in front of us. Half of the ones who sided with Dumbledore are almost as bad as Voldemort's supporters. Fudge and Delores Umbridge became an even bigger problem in a few years because they had the Ministry behind them. Unbridge tried to kill me by sending Dementors after me in the Muggle world. Rufus Scrimgeour replaced Fudge as Minister and everyone thought he would be better but in some ways he was worse. You've got some bad eggs in your department aside from the Death Eaters too Madam Bones, John Dawlish and his cronies were personal enforcers for Fudge and Umbridge. The Improper Use of Magic Office is only used to attack Muggleborns and try and keep them down or get rid of them so that they can't challenge the Purebloods. The Office of Magical Transportation was compromised for quite a while so the Floo network was being turned off or listened to. The Magical Creatures Department seems to be trying to start another war by treating goblins and centaurs as nothing but animals. That's pretty much the same as they treat Muggles for that matter, and it's even worse for werewolves, they stop them getting jobs so they can't afford wolfsbane, don't have homes to lock themselves away safely at the full moon, the Ministry seems to be trying to force them into dangerous werewolf modes so they can have an excuse to eradicate them."

The adults were looking at Harry with concern because he was painting a very bleak future.

* * *

Andi suddenly stood up. "OK, we need to get these two home to bed. They may be older on the inside but they've still got eleven year old bodies that need their rest." the others agreed and started to head out. Gringott pretended to remember something and called Harry and the others back, so that they could use the trunk floo to get back to Hogwarts and Black House. Amelia flooed back to the Ministry with Madam Marchbanks and Longbottom and then used the trunk floo to get back to Bones Manor.

Back at Hogwarts, they sent notes to Filius and Minerva to let them know that they were back, then crawled into bed. Andi and Alastor looked the other way when Harry and Hermione chose to hold each other through the night for comfort, and Andi actually used the trunk floo to get Ted to come over so that he could hold her as she couldn't get what they had to listen to in court out of her head either.

There was something else that they had to see to before they went to bed though, they had to make a nest for the newborn phoenix that they found on Harry's bed when they returned. Everyone had thought that Fawkes had disappeared when she (as Harry discovered when she spoke to him) flamed out of the Wizengamot chamber, but she had looked inside the one who urged her to look inside her last companion, and inside her new companion she found the qualities that had been sadly lacking in Albus Dumbledore for some time, if they had ever been there.

Fawkes knew that she had been avoiding looking too deeply into Albus because he was going down a path that she could not support, but phoenixes are loyal above all else, and she had been hoping that in time he would come back to the right path. It was when Harry forced her to look into him though that she realised that Albus Dumbledore had gone too far down that path to ever come back to the light. She might have left then, as everyone believed she had, but in Harry she had seen a worthy companion with a mighty task in front of him, and with that she chose him.

* * *

When she woke in Harry's arms in the morning, Hermione smiled to herself and snuggled into him. This felt so good on so many levels, her eleven year old self felt _safe,_ but to her nineteen year old self this felt so _right_. This was something that she'd never felt with Ron Weasley, for a start she'd never woken up in his arms, as when he finished with her he just pushed her aside, but made her stay with him in case he wanted more when he woke. What she felt towards him had never been anything other than need or desire, affection or comfort had never been a part of it, how could she have missed that?

Harry's arms tightened around her as he felt her getting upset, and that drew him from his sleep, as he opened his eyes he took in the frown on her face and asked her what was wrong. She struggled with how to answer him, but then she just blurted out. "How could I have been so stupid that I never realised how wrong it was with Ron? Waking up in your arms this morning felt so right and it was only then that I realised that I _never_ felt that with him… How could I have missed that it was never anything but lust and need and desire and that was _wrong_?"

He shushed her and drew her close. "It was the potions silly, neither of us were given a chance to examine what we were feeling because they kept us dosed up to the eyeballs. I've _never_ felt anything that feels so good, so right, as lying here with you in my arms, but while I was dosed up I was sure that Ginny was my everything. Now that I know the real thing I realise that what I had with her was nothing but a pale imitation of it but then, under the influence of the potions, I had no notion of what I was missing."

She moved up to kiss him. "You're pretty smart you know Harry Potter! Thank you love, I would have torn myself apart over that without you to bring me down to earth."

"Shush I have every intention of being right here whenever you need me, because I'll tell you a secret, there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

She smiled at him and slapped his chest. "Prat! There's nowhere else I'd rather be either. Now we better get up before Bonnie finds us here like this."

Harry shook his head with a chuckle. "You still don't understand house elves love, Bonnie will have already seen us, she would have been checking on us through the night..."

He stopped and cast a tempus spell to check the time, swearing and calling for Bonnie, sending her to Professor McGonagall to remind her to remove the blocks on the owls and floos before the morning owls came so people wouldn't notice.

Before Bonnie popped off to do as Harry bid, Hermione could see that he was right, she was not at all surprised to find them in each others' arms, and what's more she seemed quite happy about it, so she probably saw the good it was doing them during the night.

For all that she'd love to just lay there in his arms and make up for the lost years though, she knew that things were going to hit the fan this morning, so with one last kiss and cuddle, she dragged herself out of Harry's bed and went back to her own room to get ready.

When they went out to the common room, Andi, Ted, Dora and Alastor were waiting for them. They had a brief discussion with Ted about what happened the day before and the things that were bound to come from that before he went back to his place to get ready for work himself, and then they headed down to breakfast.

* * *

There was a lot of discussion about what happened the day before in court, but aside from at the Slytherin table, the main topic of conversation was the Headmaster being tried and sent off to Azkaban.

When Professor McGonagall came in, she made the announcement that the Headmaster was gone and that she would be serving as the Acting Headmistress until the new Headmaster was chosen, she also told them that Professor Sprout would be Acting Deputy Headmistress and Professor Sinistra was the House Mistress for Slytherin, and then went on to say that they had engaged a new Potions Master for the school and that he would be starting in a couple of days, adding that their parents would know him as he taught most of them, Professor Horace Slughorn.

When the owls arrived with the Daily Prophet, the hall erupted, because the headline was _**Dark Lord Revealed**_. As they scanned through the article, Harry and Hermione could easily recognise Fudge and Umbridge's words behind Rita Bloody Skeeter's sensationalism. The gist of the article was that the trial, which had been nothing more than an attempt to discredit a respected teacher at Hogwarts from the start, had quickly been revealed to be an attack on the very pillars of their society. It might have been amusing how they reframed putting proven Death Eaters through the Veil of Death for the atrocities that they admitted to into **Murder!** if so many people in the Great Hall didn't seem to be believing it.

The article accused Harry of confounding the entire Wizengamot into stealing the fortunes of the Pureblood pillars of society and murdering them to cover up his crimes, specifically naming ones like Lord Malfoy and Lord Macmillan. The final proof of his evil intent offered was that he had also engineered the fall and imprisonment of the revered Headmaster and Leader of the Light, Albus Dumbledore.

A separate article listed all of those who had been tried and sentenced the previous day, including the sentences that had been handed down. The fact that so many of them were parents or relatives of students currently at Hogwarts led to much angry shouting.

Of those in the hall, the ones who were speaking out the loudest against the rhetoric were those who had actually been in the court and had heard some of the testimonies under Veritaserum. Even some of the Slytherins who had been there were saying that the article was ridiculous, they'd heard these people being questioned under Veritaserum and the idea of one boy confounding the _entire_ Wizengamot and all of the Aurors who had been there was ludicrous!

To most in the hall though, the statements of the eyewitnesses were ignored because they were tied up in the sensationalism of the article, and they were getting more and more angry, with those who were arguing against it as well as Harry. Harry went to leave the Great Hall, but stopped and caught Professor McGonagall's eye as he did, she nodded slightly to indicate that she got his message and met him in her office a few minutes later. Harry pointed out that he was worried about the ones who were being attacked because they were arguing against what the article said, especially Neville and Susan, so he asked if they could be moved into the Nobles Tower for protection, for a while at least if not permanently.

Professor McGonagall considered the request and agreed, if she could get their parents' permission. She sent permission forms to the parents of the students who were arguing that the article was nothing but lies with letters explaining what was going on, and she had the signed permissions by the end of the day, before lunch for most of them. So the occupants of Nobles Tower went up by nine that day, Fred and George Weasley from Gryffindor, Neville, Susan and Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, Penelope Clearwater and Padma Patil from Ravenclaw and Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis from Slytherin.

The tension in the school was only increased when a good quarter of the Purebloods and several of the Half-bloods were informed that their names had been changed due to their family names being eradicated for their parents' or Heads of House's crimes. Some, like Draco Black, managed to take their mothers' family names, but others, like the erstwhile Ernie Macmillan, became No-Names because either both sides lost their names, or they had been cast out of the family to avoid the taint of association effecting the rest of the family. Of course, they laid the blame for all of this at Harry's feet.

Losing their names on top of losing the money and privilege that dictated who they were pushed more than a few of these students over the edge and they attacked Harry, Hermione and those around them. The ease with which Harry and Hermione avoided and rebuffed these attacks unfortunately just proved the Dark Lord stories in the minds of those who believed what was written in the Daily Prophet, and the anger levels rose even more because anyone attacking another student was immediately expelled and had their wands snapped (these rules had always been there but Dumbledore had refused to enforce them). If they were seventeen or over, the attackers were automatically taken away by the DMLE and charged, so some of them ended up in Azkaban with their parents.

* * *

As Harry and Hermione attended few classes while all of this was going on, few noticed when Harry disappeared after lunch. He and Hermione accepted that they were doing all of this in a mad rush, but they were determined to collect all of the Horcruxes before Voldemort's followers had a chance to work out what was going on and moved them, so as soon as Gringott had assembled a team to go after what they hoped was the last horcrux, Harry used the trunk floo to go to Gringott's office and meet them. At Hermione's request, he took Bastet and Crookshanks with him to help deal with whatever they may find there.

While he was in Gringott's office, Harry asked him if he could find out what holdings in the Daily Prophet those in their group had, because he wanted to go after the Prophet for printing Fudge and Umbridge's blatant lies like that and painting a target on Hermione's and his backs.

With that, Harry grabbed the port key and went to Little Hangleton with the rest of the team. Bastet and Crookshanks immediately started spitting, because they could sense snakes around them, and that put the goblin guards on alert as the curse breakers tried to decipher the wards. The Mngwas and the guards killed quite a few snakes that came at them, but the curse breakers were having trouble because they couldn't understand what they were seeing.

Harry realised what the issue probably was and asked them to show him how to see the wards. Sure enough, the wards had been cast in parseltongue. While he didn't know anything about parselmagic, with him telling the curse breakers what he was seeing and them explaining how they'd normally handle something like that, they managed to dismantle the wards enough to get inside safely.

The others looked at him strangely when he sent them almost straight to where the horcrux made from the Peverell ring was located, but accepted it when he said that he'd felt it, because once it was uncovered they could certainly feel its foul presence. The ring was quickly tossed into the warded container that they'd brought along for that purpose and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they were free of its influence.

When they were back at Gringotts and the ring had been put away with the other horcruxes, they sat down to plan the way forward. As far as they knew, they had all of the horcruxes now, because if Dumbledore had been correct in the last cycle, Voldemort hadn't made his familiar Nagini into a horcrux yet. For that matter he shouldn't have discovered her, let alone bound her to him yet. If that was right, they now had the means to destroy Voldemort for good, they could destroy the horcruxes and then destroy his shade that was currently in Quirrell.

Harry was obviously concerned about the horcrux inside him and he really wanted the life with Hermione that had been denied them in the last cycle, so the question was, how could they get it out of him without killing him? Gringott brought the leading experts on the subject in and they proposed extracting the soul fragments from the other horcruxes first and then destroying the soul fragments once they were out.

They pointed out that some of the other containers were priceless artefacts that should be saved anyway, and Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and Helga Hufflepuff's cup were both complex magical objects, so if they could manage to extract the soul fragments from them without disturbing their magic, they were confident that they would be able to extract the fragment from him without harming him. Harry was a little dubious about that but it was the best option on offer, so they agreed to follow that path.

Once the soul fragments had all been destroyed, the plan was to stun and bind Quirrell and bring him to Gringotts. They would attempt to extract and destroy Voldemort's shade without killing him, and if they managed that he would be tested to determine whether he had been a willing host, or an innocent victim. If he had been a willing host to the abomination, he would be given the Kiss and Veil like Voldemort's other faithful.

If they could do this, they would have managed to eliminate the two biggest threats to Magical Britain, then they would just have to deal with the rest of the rabid Pureblood fanatics who were determined to keep the old ways alive and keep Magical Britain under their thumbs.


	3. Battle Lines

**Oops, had to go back and make adjustments to the previous chapters sorry, I got the years mixed up for Dora and was thinking that she was still in Hogwarts when Harry started, but she wasn't.**

 **NB: One thing that always aggravated me in the stories, how obvious a name was Remus Lupin for a werewolf? By the third book when he was introduced they were presumably meant for teenagers, surely that was an obvious insult to their intelligence? For that matter, the story line was that Remus was bitten as a small child because his father was outspoken against werewolves, if that was the case, why the hell would he _ever_ call his son Remus Lupin (even if the family name was Lupin)?**

 **Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

By the time that Harry returned to Hogwarts, the other students had been moved into Nobles Tower, and Hermione had been moved into Harry's chambers. Harry wasn't at all put out by that, in fact he was quite happy, but asked how that had come about. It was Andi who answered him.

"We were here working on the plans for the most effective way to organise your tutoring around the regular classes you're thinking of doing, which Hermione pointed out will most likely only be Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures soon enough because as much as you two like and respect Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, you will be bored silly sitting in the first year classes when you've both done your NEWTS and got 'O's for most of them, when the Grey Lady came to us to say that Hogwarts was making the changes to the tower to cater for the new students moving in. She also said that Merlin had told them what he had seen in your heads, so now that the rest of us knew the truth about you, they could see no reason to separate you."

She stopped and smiled. "She said that she and Hogwarts had agreed that the two of you are sensible enough to know that your eleven year old bodies are too young for a physical relationship, so they could see no reason in withholding the comfort that you can give each other by being together."

Hermione blushed as she gave Harry a shy smile, which he realised was probably a replay of her reaction when the Grey Lady had said that. Andi smiled at her before she continued. "So Hogwarts made your chambers into a more suitable suite for you, with a private sitting room, dressing room and the like. I believe that it will be quite comfortable for the two of you and your four familiars. Hedwig has been moved down from the owlery and she, Fawkes, Bastet and Crookshanks will generally live in your sitting room."

She turned more serious as she looked at Harry. "I believe that you should consider telling your friends the whole truth about what happened so that they can understand this. The way that Hermione told us last night left no doubt in the minds of any of us who were in the Head Goblin's office about the facts of the matter and I expect that Augusta and Amelia will be sharing that with Neville and Susan, but the others will most probably be an on-going part of your lives and are better off knowing the truth. It will be safer for them when they stand beside you to face the trials ahead of you as we all know they will."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, nodding in agreement and Hermione said. "I think we should tell Fred and George the truth about their family as well, do we know whether Arthur went to St Mungo's as we suggested?"

Andi nodded. "Yes, he did. He went straight there from the Wizengamot chamber and was understandably upset to find that what you warned him about in the note was true. He will be in there for a few days at least while they cleanse him of the potions and charms that he's been subjected to for so long. He would like to meet you to thank you for telling him… it is your decision but I believe it would be best to tell him the whole truth as well, Arthur is a good man and with what came to the houses of Weasley and Prewett yesterday, he and his sons will be able to give you valuable support in the battle that's in front of us."

Harry and Hermione nodded again, it would be good to have the Weasley men behind them.

* * *

When they asked, Andi said that St Mungo's had created a story about an unknown aliment to enforce a standing no visitors rule for Arthur, mainly to keep his wife away, but they had a way around that. Going to St Mungo's with the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Arthur's boss, meant that they got past the restrictions without trouble.

With Amelia's support, Arthur accepted their story about how they knew about things that they shouldn't, and once he accepted where they had come from, they told him the painful truth about their interactions with his wife and her children. Finding out that three of his children apparently weren't his and that he'd been blindly following a man who had a large part in destroying his life was, of course, hard to take for Arthur, but the healers had already cleared him of enough of the potions and charms for the weak, befuddled man that his wife and Dumbledore had made him into to have disappeared.

Arthur readily agreed to an alliance with them, and to support what they were trying to do. He was confident that his sons would support that as well, but first he needed to talk to them and find a way to address the cancer in his family. Of course it was Hermione who came up with a solution for that. Her suggestion was simply to use his supposed ailment as an excuse to bring the entire family into St Mungo's for testing. All of the Weasley children could be put through the official inheritance tests with or without their knowledge, and they could be tested for potions and charms at the same time. They could put Molly through the potions and charms tests as well to confirm whether she had been acting of her own accord, or was compelled to do so by someone else. _If_ she had been compelled to do it, the only likely suspect was Dumbledore, of course.

While they were here for the tests, Charlie and Bill could officially accept their positions as the Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Prewett and Heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Weasley respectively, and Charlie could assign Arthur as his Proxy, thereby unseating Dumbledore's minion who had been occupying the Prewett seat up until now. They made arrangements with St Mungo's to do the potions and charms tests, and to bring the goblins in to do the official inheritance tests (which Amelia would witness to ensure that there no question as to the veracity of the results).

With everything agreed, Gringott made the arrangements to bring Bill and Charlie in via Port Key immediately, because Bill was a curse breaker in Egypt for Gringotts and the goblins had a controlling interest in the dragon reserve in Romania where Charlie was working as well.

The testing showed no great surprises for Charlus and Bilius, they were indeed Arthur's sons and aside from some residual compulsions that had had little effect on them before they were cleared by St Mungo's healers, they were clean. They went through the process to formally accept their places as the Head and Heir of the Houses of Prewett and Weasley respectively and Charlie formally assigned his voting proxies to his father. Bill and Charlie agreed with their father's wish to support Harry and the others' efforts once they'd heard the story from Harry and Hermione, and they stayed with Sirius and Narcissa, helping clean up Black House, while they waited for the testing on the rest of the family to be done, and the inevitable trial.

Fredericus and Georgius were also proven to be Arthur's sons and had no more than ineffectual compulsions on them that the healers at St Mungo's cleared from them.

It was a different story with Percival, Ronald and Ginevra, as _they_ proved to be the children of Barty Crouch Senior, Cornelius Fudge and Rufus Scrimgeour respectively. When they were tested for potions or compulsions though they showed no signs of either, so their behaviour was apparently purely the result of their mother's upbringing and their own natures.

When Molly was brought in for testing in regard to Arthur's 'ailment', she too was proven to be free of potions and compulsions, so her behaviour was purely due to her own nature.

Arthur only had a day to deal with his wife's actions before the trial date that Amelia had set up, and it was hard on him to have everything she had done to him and his family, her infidelity and the fact that he had been raising three other men's children as his own come out publicly in the Wizengamot as it did, but he was a stronger man now and he dealt with it head on. He gained a lot of respect in the Wizengamot and much of the Ministry from the noble way he handled the whole mess of his life and family being aired in front of everyone.

Percy, Ron and Ginny stood by their mother and tried to argue that the charges against her were lies, so they had obviously chosen their side.

Both Arthur and Charlie formally cast Percy, Ron and Ginny out of the Weasley and Prewett families and Charlie cast his mother out of the Prewett family after Arthur called for and received the dissolution of his marriage to Molly. All of this was before Molly was sentenced to twelve years in Azkaban as Molly No-Name for potioning Arthur to coerce him into marrying her, and then keep him under her control ever since. Under the old laws, three years was added to her sentence for her infidelity and having children to three other men while married to Arthur.

Five years were also added to Dumbledore's sentence for the illegal compulsions and memory charms he had cast on Arthur and his sons to further Molly's plans for them. No-one expected Dumbledore to survive the fifteen years in Azkaban he had already been sentenced to, but protocol required the additional sentence.

Fudge and Scrimgeour only escaped being charged themselves by testifying under Veritaserum that they had been unaware that Ron and Ginny were their children. It was presumed that Molly had been keeping that information to herself in hope of pulling it out when she really wanted something so they were let off the hook.

With their mother going to Azkaban and having been cast out of the Weasley family, Percy, Ron and Ginny were automatically made their fathers' wards and given their names. Their fathers would have to formally cast them out of their families to change this, but with the charges they'd just avoided still hanging over their heads, neither Fudge or Scrimgeour were about to do anything which might bring about a reversal of the decision, so they just accepted the situation and took them in.

Crouch was not in a position to cast Percy out of his family, as he was already in Azkaban for life. This had been the default sentence for his crimes of breaking Barty Junior out of Azkaban and then using the unforgivable Imperious curse on him for thirteen years. Barty Junior had been questioned under Veritaserum to provide evidence on his and his father's crimes, and then sentenced to the same Kiss and Veil fate as the other rabid Death Eaters.

Percy, Ron and Ginny's personal belongings were sent to their new homes, and Molly's personal things were sent to Crouch house as well. Percy could decide what to do with his mother's things, Arthur didn't really care what he did with them.

* * *

At Sirius's invitation and the elves assistance, Arthur moved into Black House with him and Narcissa after the trial, and Fred and George would live there when they came home from school as well. They also took Bill and Charlie's things to Black House because Arthur was selling the Burrow to close off that chapter of their lives.

Drowning his sorrows in Firewhiskey after the trial with Sirius, Narcissa and Amelia, and Bill and Charlie before they returned to Egypt and Romania respectively, Arthur suddenly shook his head and laughed. When they looked at him with a question about what was so amusing he said. "Harry and Hermione."

The questioning looks didn't change so he explained. "They've only been back in this world for just over a week, but they've turned it upside down!"

The others had to laugh at this, because it was true. Those two supposed children had taken down most of the Death Eater menace, along with Voldemort's other supporters. They had also exposed Albus Dumbledore as the monster that he was and exposed the cancer in Arthur's family as well. They hadn't defeated Voldemort as yet but they were well on the way to that, and everyone was confident that it would be done before the end of the week, by which time they would have achieved far more in two weeks than the so-called Leader of the Light had managed in over half a century. Yes, Harry and Hermione were certainly a force to be reckoned with!

After Bill and Charlie went back to work, and while he was finishing the treatments to purge the potions from his system, Arthur pitched in to help get Black House straightened out. The work was progressing well but there were invariably scuffles between the elves when Kreacher tried to stop the enthusiastic elves who came with Narcissa from changing things in the house but Sirius used his authority as Lord Black to force him to co-operate. Without that foul horcrux, Walburga Black's portrait or the other dark objects spread through the house and tainting the atmosphere though, Kreacher was improving day by day. He may never be quite so enthusiastic and bouncy as Harry's elf Dobby, but he was already far more polite and helpful than he'd ever been in Sirius's memory.

One incident that caused a big scene was when they tried to throw out the grisly display of elf heads that had been up on the wall, as Kreacher viewed this as dishonouring the elves who had faithfully served the House of Black. In the end the compromise reached was that Kreacher was given them to keep in his personal cubby, that way the others in the house were spared the grisly exhibition but Kreacher managed to hold onto something that was very important to him. They also gave him the Slytherin locket after it had been cleansed of Voldemort's soul fragment as a memento of his master Regulus, who had always been his favourite.

Turfing out the dark objects and other grisly objects that were reminders of what the House of Black used to be went a long way to turning Black House into a place to live in, but repainting the rooms and changing the furniture and rugs to lighter, brighter colours improved it even more.

* * *

One thing that Narcissa remained upset about was that Draco was refusing to change, insisting on cleaving to the teachings of his father. He even tried to hang onto the Malfoy name until he was bluntly told that the blot on their society that was the Malfoy family no longer existed and that the very name had been eradicated to allow them to be forgotten. To spare Narcissa more anguish, it was Sirius who told Draco that he would retain the Black family's name and support _only_ if he opened his eyes and honestly renounced the Death Eater teachings and Pureblood bigotry of his father. Draco was left in no doubt by the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black that if he did not soon make an honest and visible attempt to change as required, he would be Draco No-Name and would have no support from anyone. The harsh reminder that he'd had everything done for him all of his life and didn't know how to do anything for himself made that thought quite daunting and not a little frightening for Draco.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though as with the extra students residing in it, Nobles Tower was becoming a happier place. Between battling Voldemort and his Death Eaters and dealing with Dumbledore and Molly Weasley's ruthless machinations to take everything they could from them and then toss them aside, both Harry and Hermione had been forced to grow up far too quickly in the last cycle. Being around adults (especially Alastor) all the time, they were usually serious, and dealing with the weighty matters that they were when they first arrived did not provide many opportunities for fun or happiness either. With nine other children in the Tower though, five of them eleven like Harry and Hermione's bodies, there was much more laughter and fun to be had.

Horace Slughorn had returned to Hogwarts as the Portions Master, and they were hearing mixed reports about the creepy but brilliant Potions Master from the ones who had attended his classes. Emmeline Vance and Hestia Jones had been located and had joined the family in Nobles Tower, starting the tutoring sessions that the others would be sharing with Harry and Hermione once things settled down.

Sirius and Narcissa (or Siri and Cissi as they insisted on being called) had also started giving tutoring sessions, but they tended to pop in and out from Black House. Once Emmeline and Hestia had moved into the tower, Andi moved back to their house with Ted, popping in and out to give tutoring sessions or deal with the business of Harry's houses.

Remus Lupin had been located, but he was staying at Black House until he got himself straightened out. While the last ten years hadn't been as hard for him as it had for Sirius, living rough and dealing with the monthly problem of being a werewolf had taken a lot out of him.

There were ten other non-human residents in the Nobles Tower family. As Hermione had requested, Barty Crouch's elf Winky had been rescued and bonded to her, while the ex-Malfoy elf Dobby had begged to be able to serve the great Harry Potter and Narcissa had released him to do so. Two of the senior house elves from Potter Manor, Tommy and Missy, had also moved in to look after the Master, his Mistress Hermione and their friends. Tommy and Missy would be teaching Harry, Hermione and the others Elf Magic.

The goblins were there because it was accepted that it would be a lengthy and difficult process to get one of the laws that Dumbledore and Fudge had had enacted repealed. This law stated that if the Head or Heir of a House died without a legal Heir before they reached their Majority, all assets of that house would default to the Ministry. It was an obvious attempt to grab the assets of rich houses, and as they didn't put it past Fudge and his supporters to make attempts to kill Harry and Hermione (given Umbridge had tried to kill Harry in the last cycle), Gringott had assigned six of the best warriors of the Goblin Nation to protect Harry, Hermione and their friends around the clock. Wherever Harry or Hermione went, Emmeline or Hestia, sometimes Andi and Cissi, and at least one of the goblins accompanied them. They were usually accompanied by Alastor and Dora, Sirius or Remus as well.

The goblins would also be teaching the students (and adults) the Goblin arts of Defence and Goblin Magic. While Harry, Hermione, Amelia and Alastor didn't turn a hair, the goblins were greatly amused to see some of the others obviously having trouble with their names, because to witches and wizards who are uncomfortable with goblins to start off with, the names that they chose for themselves when they proved themselves as warriors like Fangfist, Ironclaw and Trollbane were intimidating. Hroarr, Snorri and Ulfr's names didn't seem to worry them as much, though that may have been because they didn't know what they meant.

Ulfr had been selected by the Grand Chief to head up the hand picked goblin guard for this young human and his mate. At first he could not see why the Grand Chief would take such an interest in a human child, but it only took a few days of observing and listening to him to come to understand. Unlike most wizards, this child knew and respected the language and ways of the people, and he was a warrior. He may not have been fighting his current battles with a blade, but he was fighting great battles and defeating powerful foes nevertheless. Ulfr had also been in the Grand Chief's office when they met with the other humans, and the trials and feats of another life that this Harry had gone through from the age he was now were astounding, not to mention the monumental things he had had a large part in achieving here.

Most humans believed that they could fool goblins, but goblins at his level could see through most humans quite easily and he knew that Harry's mate, Hermione, had been telling the truth when she recounted his feats and said that she'd fight for him. Ulfr saw this in her eyes as well as Harry's. This was what made both of them worthy of his respect, and the Grand Chief's as well. After that night, Ulfr ensured that he accompanied them whenever they were likely to be in danger, so he had been with Harry when they went to recover that dark object from the snake house.

The way Harry had concentrated on the task and ignored the danger of the attacking snakes as he dove into the strange wards of the house to bring them down showed the courage of a true warrior, and so did the way he had gone into the ritual to remove the same type of dark soul piece as that object had held from himself. He had known that they could not offer him any surety that he would survive the ritual, that they hadn't been able to test what they were doing on a live subject before, but he just comforted his mate and then walked into the ritual chamber with his head held high. The ritual had tortured Harry, that was plain to see, but he didn't complain or beg for it to end, he was determined to get this thing out of him.

Yes, Ulfr would willingly stand by this human and give his life to protect him if needed, because he had earned this respect. That was something that could be said for very few humans. It certainly couldn't be said for the poor excuse of a wizard that they removed from the school just before they extracted the soul piece from Harry. The shade of the wizard who all of the wizarding kind had apparently feared had desperately tried to escape like the lowly pig it was transferred into. The scream as the shade was destroyed had been just as despairingly satisfying as the scream of the soul piece that was taken from Harry (and he presumed the others, but he hadn't been there when they were destroyed).

On the other hand, the wizard who had willingly offered to host that shade in return for empty promises from this Voldemort had shamefully begged for his life. Ulfr had witnessed the execution of the wizard by putting him through the veil of death after he was subjected to the Dementor's Kiss for the Grand Chief, but it was unsatisfying because the wizard had kept begging for his life right up until the dementor sucked his soul out. It was not a good way to die, it was a coward's death, but then that was what he was.

* * *

After Voldemort's shade, and they were confident Voldemort, was destroyed, more changes were ahead for the family, and especially Hogwarts. As expected, Minerva was confirmed as the Headmistress and Pomona Sprout was confirmed as the new Deputy Headmistress, so they had to organise for a new Transfiguration teacher and a new House Mistress or Master for Gryffindor. With great trepidation, Minerva brought in Sirius as the new Transfiguration teacher, while Madam Hooch took over from her as the House Mistress for Gryffindor (Minerva had, not unreasonably, applied the same argument to Sirius as Harry had to Slughorn). Now that Professor Quirrell had mysteriously disappeared, they also needed a new Defence teacher. In attempt to put the supposed curse on the position behind them, they dropped the 'Against the Dark Arts' from the name and moved the classroom when Minerva brought in Tom Hardy, an ex-Auror recommended by Amelia, to take on the position.

While they were making changes, Minerva banished the ghost Professor Binns from Hogwarts and brought in a renowned historian to teach more than the slanted, two hundred year old view of the Goblin Wars which was all that Binns had ever really taught. She also replaced the Pureblood wizard teaching Muggle Studies with a Muggleborn Witch and renamed the course to Muggle World Studies. She worked with the new teachers, interested parties and the Wizarding Examination Authority to totally revise both the History of Magic and Muggle Studies courses into something that actually would actually provide the students with real and useful information about the Magical and Muggle worlds.

Minerva also scrapped the ineffectual Divination course and dismissed Sybil Trelawney. She had always shared the opinion of Madam Marchbanks that the Divination course offered was a farce, and now that she knew that the primary reason Dumbledore had taken Trelawney on and kept her at Hogwarts for the past twelve years was to protect his precious prophecy (the one that had been used to destroy the Potters and the Longbottoms and Merlin knew how many others), well she wasn't going to allow the batty witch to waste any more of their students' time or continue to put silly ideas into their heads.

At Harry and Hermione's suggestion, she replaced Divination with a new Magical World Studies course that they quickly put together to teach students how to navigate the social and political aspects of Magical Britain, and to a lesser degree other Magical societies. Muggle World Studies and Magical World Studies were still the easy elective options, but they now offered the students something far more useful than the old Muggle Studies and Divination courses had.

The option was also added to allow students to choose self study for any of the electives and then sit the exams at the end of the year, so that they could avoid unnecessary class work if they knew the material. Some Pureblood parents tried to argue that this was just an attempt to give an advantage to the Muggleborn students, but they shut up when it was pointed out that Pureblood students should be able to take advantage of the same option for Magical World Studies if they knew the subject matter well enough, so neither side were being given an advantage.

Arrangements were made for any students who were serious about studying Divination to get occasional instruction from the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest while they continued it as a self study option, which would do far more for them than sitting in Trelawney's classroom would have.

When the Ministry got wind of the course changes at Hogwarts, they attempted to stop them, because when the students started to learn the real situation on these subjects, their parents started to pick up on it as well, and that led to people questioning what the Ministry was doing in many areas. Minister Fudge and his lackeys weren't dealing with someone with his own agenda for maintaining the status quo any more though. Minerva was determined to do the right thing by Hogwarts and its students, and with plenty of support, full knowledge of the Charter and rules for Hogwarts _and_ the international education requirements of the International Confederation of Wizards, she had little trouble shooting the Ministry's arguments down.

* * *

Fudge's problems didn't stop at Hogwarts through, because many of the victims who had been awarded the titles and holdings taken from the Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters on the day that they were purged were Muggleborn, so for the first time, the Muggleborns had a voice in the Wizengamot, and the new Wizengamot members were now settling into their roles and making themselves heard. This meant that more and more people in the Wizengamot were questioning why whatever the Ministry was proposing promoted the interests of Purebloods over Half-Bloods and Muggleborns, and they were demanding explanations for the anti-Muggle and anti-magical creature proposals. Madam Marchbanks, as the Chief Witch, quickly stepped on anyone trying to shoot down the questions of the new Wizengamot members, which meant that the Ministry and traditional Pureblood factions were suddenly having a hard time in the Wizengamot.

Part of the problem for the traditionalists was that they had always presumed that they would be able to just continue on as they had been done for generations, but Harry and Hermione (especially Hermione) had thoroughly researched the rules of the Wizengamot and the Ministry and used their own rules against them to push whatever they were working for. One rule that they took advantage of was the one which stated that underage Lords, Ladies, Heirs or Heiresses had the right to sit in the Wizengamot with their Lord, Lady, Regent or Proxy so that they may learn the processes of the Wizengamot for when they assumed their position upon reaching their majority. With privacy charms, no-one could determine whether they were asking questions or giving instructions, though it was obvious to the brighter members of the Wizengamot that it was the latter when their Regents would raise points just after Lord Potter or Lady Granger 'asked' them something.

Harry and Hermione's knowledge of what had been done in the last cycle also allowed them to recognise much of what was being proposed and raise questions which would in turn make the new Muggleborn Wizengamot members question the intent of these proposals. This led to most of these proposals being shot down.

A more lucrative aspect of their knowledge of the coming events of the next seven and a half years was that it enabled them to make some killer investments, so that their side had the funds to do whatever they had a need for. The fortune that they had spent on that large order of trunks with extensive security charms and wards and floo connections had been recouped in no time at all.

Another thing that the traditionalists in the Wizengamot did not appreciate was how the newly assertive Lord Weasley had joined the votes of the greatly elevated Noble and Ancient Houses of Weasley and Prewett to those of the also elevated Houses of Potter, Prewett, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Black, Tonks, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Moody, Granger, Longbottom, Bones, McGonagall, Greengrass and Davis. With the Muggleborn houses and many of the neutral factions generally voting with this Potter Alliance as well, the traditionalists were losing nearly every time they went up against them.

Their world had been changing faster than it ever had before in the past two months and the traditionalists who had ruled this world up until now did not like these changes at all. Their children were even being expelled from Hogwarts and having their wands snapped just for attacks on their inferiors and lesser Half-Bloods and Muggleborns, as was their right, this would not be countenanced! They _knew_ that the root of their problems was these two children who had suddenly nowburst onto the scene when they started at Hogwarts. That gave them a target to strike at to redress the problems of their world and many began planning to get rid of this blight on their world, hopefully without exposing themselves when they did so.

The Pureblood traditionalists were forming up behind the Minister for Magic, because he had been the first one to identify the threat and make any move against this new Dark Lord after he ripped apart and decimated the Pureblood ranks that day in the Wizengamot. They listened when Minister Fudge told them that this Dark Lord Potter had taken over their news standard, the Daily Prophet. The esteemed editor of the Prophet had been torn from his position and replaced by some puppet of Potter and his accomplices. The respected reporter Rita Skeeter had also disappeared, and they were saying she was killed by Potter and his followers for reporting the truth. The Minister was reportedly so worried about the Daily Prophet turning into nothing more than a propaganda rag for the Potter camp that he was canvassing support among the traditionalists to create a Ministry approved newspaper, the Official Herald.

He had also tried to get support to start a new school that would be free of the Potter Alliances's influence, citing the controversial changes being made by the new Headmistress who was part of this Alliance in the Wizengamot, but that idea was shot down, because even the traditionalists could see the benefits of many of the changes she was making and their children at Hogwarts were already reporting improvements. It was one thing to help fund a Ministry newspaper, but they had no interest in bankrupting themselves trying to fund a new school that had little chance of success, and even less of meeting the rising education standards of Hogwarts under its new Headmistress.

Another thing which shut down support for the Ministry school proposal was word that the changes currently being wrought at Hogwarts were helping the school regain the international recognition it had lost over the past few decades, and as many of the old families had holdings and connections on the Continent that they held onto so that they could leave Magical Britain if necessary, the prospect of having their children's education credentials recognised there was a major issue to them. That prospect wouldn't be available if their children went to a sub-standard Ministry run school.

* * *

At Hogwarts, the students and teachers were trying to accept the new world order. One of the big surprises was that Draco had been frightened enough by what Sirius said to him to change his ways.

Sirius's response to him when he promised to comply with the new rules of the House of Black was. "You can stay a Black so long as you live up to what it means to be a Black now. If you slip, you will be cast out and cut off."

Things were made easier for Draco by the fact that the two goons he had started the Hogwarts with, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, had both had had their wands snapped and been expelled when they tried to attack Harry after their fathers went through the Veil of Death for their crimes in the Death Eater purge. While Theodore Nott had also lost his father in the purge he hadn't reacted the same way, but they were keeping an eye on him as they suspected that he might be playing a smarter game.

Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Balstrode's fathers were both Voldemort supporters who had gone to Azkaban for what their crimes, but while Pansy had apparently aligned herself with Nott, Millicent seemed to have taken this as an opportunity to turn her life around.

Seeing the changes in Millicent led Harry, Hermione and some of the others to draw some unpleasant conclusions, because now that her father was no longer in a position to force a marriage on her, Millicent had totally changed her diet, behaviour and personality. It appeared that her overweight condition had been purely the result of intentional overeating because in less than two months her weight loss had been quite noticeable, and she had totally changed the rest of her appearance as well. Sirius, Andi and Cissi mentioned that her mother had been a beautiful woman before she died, and it appeared that Millicent now felt safe enough to uncover her own beauty. She was also proving to be quite a bit brighter than she had been letting anyone see when she first arrived at Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, the changes in Millicent caught the eye of more than their little group, and she attracted unwanted attention from some older students. One day Harry and Hermione were taking Bastet and Crookshanks outside to give them a run (with Hestia, Sirius, Ulfr and Snorri), and Bastet and Crookshanks suddenly took took off. By the time they caught up with them, they were clawing at the door of a disused classroom. A mental call from Harry had them move out of the way seconds before Sirius blasted in the door. The boy from their year and four older boys in the room all turned to fling curses at whoever it was coming in the door, but they were rather forcibly disarmed, because Harry and the others had seen Millicent spread over a desk all but naked and one of the boys jumping off of her as they came in.

Hermione and Hestia went to look after Millicent while Harry, Sirius and the goblins dealt with the boys. They used the communications mirrors that Sirius and Remus had revised and improved (they now used a private network like their trunk floos instead of being fixed connections between two mirrors) since the family had come back together to call Madam Pomfrey to come and see to Millicent. They then called Amelia to bring a team of Aurors to Hogwarts and Minerva to a) expect the Aurors and b) come and deal with the issue. The Headmistress's office was still the only location in Hogwarts that could be accessed via the regular floo network, so the Aurors had to come in via her office.

Once they had been questioned under Veritaserum, their memory's collected for pensieve review and the recent spells cast from their wands checked, the boys' wands were snapped and they were expelled before being taken away to be tried for what they had done. The three who were of age and the sixteen year old were all sent to Azkaban because they had been stopped in the process of raping the barely twelve year old head of a Noble and Ancient house (as the last member of the House of Bulstrode, the title had gone to Millicent after her father was convicted and sent to Azkaban for twenty five years, which was effectively Life in Azkaban). The penalties levied for her father's crimes had seriously reduced their house's worth and power, but in terms of severity of the charges, the fact that she was the underage Head of a Noble and Ancient House was all that was taken into account.

One of those boys had been the son of a Death Eater so there was nothing left of his house, but the remaining titles, holdings and wealth of the other three houses were taken from them and awarded to the House of Bulstrode in compensation for Millicent's ordeal, and this was enough to bring the worth and power of the House of Bulstrode up to over one and a half times what it had been before her father's trial.

Twelve year old Blaise Zabini was spared Azkaban, but taking a third of the wealthy Zabini family's holdings and worth in recompense for his part in the attack on Millicent more than doubled the House of Bulstrode's worth and votes again, so her future was secure. Blaise's mother sent him off to Beauxbatons as soon as the trial was done, as much in hope of having Magical Britain forget about him and what he did as because he'd been expelled from Hogwarts, but the Headmistress of Hogwarts felt honour bound to tell the Beauxbatons Headmistress the truth about what was coming into her school, so Zabini was closely watched.

As the Headmistress, Minerva had become Millicent's guardian when her father was sentenced to Azkaban and she had no living relatives to take responsibility for her, but when Minerva asked her what she wanted to do, Millicent had said that she just wanted to stay in Slytherin as a normal student, so she had allowed her to stay there. That was obviously no longer a suitable option, so Millicent was moved into Nobles Tower and began studying with the other students there. After she moved in and learned what they were trying to do, Millie accepted her titles and officially made Andi the Regent and Proxy for the House of Bulstrode, to further strengthen the Potter Alliance.

* * *

Three more Gryffindors had joined the group in the tower just after the nine moved in, Angelina Johnson, Katherine Bell and Lee Jordon, Fred and George's girlfriends and best friend.

Two other girls also started at Hogwarts and moved into the tower at the same time. One was Daphne Greengrass's younger sister Astoria, who'd just turned ten days before and so would have been two years behind Daphne normally. (The option to start students younger than eleven on merit at Hogwarts had always been there, but Dumbledore had buried it so that no-one could ever use it.) Harry, Hermione, Minerva, Andi and Sirius convinced their parents that Astoria would be much safer and progress much better if they allowed her to start early and go through school with Daphne and the others. Astoria was sorted into Slytherin as she had been in the last cycle, but she shared Daphne's room in the tower and studied with them.

The other girl was Luna Lovegood, who was turning eleven in February. Neither Harry or Hermione wanted to see Luna go through what she had in the last cycle again, and they didn't think that spending an extra year at home with no-one but her father would have done her any good either, so the same group went to the Lovegood home and talked Xenophilius into letting her start at Hogwarts a year early. Luna was sorted into Ravenclaw again, but she too lived in the tower and studied with the rest of family.

When they made the case for Luna, it appeared that they may have saved her father as well, because hearing what he had become and what that had done to Luna was a wakeup call for Xeno, and he regained his feet as a result of that. By the time they were in a position to force the editor of the Daily Prophet out, Xeno had pulled himself together enough to take over the paper and turn it into something worthwhile.

* * *

Between their 'regular' tutoring sessions and the extra tutoring sessions they had with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn, the students from the tower were pushing through their courses at a lot faster rate than the rest of the students. Harry and Hermione were only attending some of the 'regular' sessions because they had already gone through all of this and they were just brushing up.

Neville, Sue, Padma, Daphne, Tracey, Millie, Astoria and Luna were pushing to get through years one, two and three in their first year so that they could go into Fourth year next year with Harry, Hermione, Cedric, Fred and George, Angelina, Katie and Lee. Katie was working through years two and three in one year to catch up as well. The group had all accepted that they'd have to work harder _and_ work through the holidays for all of them to get through the final Third year exams by the end of the year but they regarded this as an acceptable trade-off.

The plan was for them all to go through years four and five and do their OWLs in their second year.

Penny would be completing her OWLs at the end of the year, and hopefully doing years six and seven and her NEWTs the next year. She was also hoping to work on her masteries in her second and third years.

Providing everything went to plan, the rest of them would do year six and seven and their NEWTs in their third year, though Harry and Hermione were hoping to get some of their OWLs out of the way in their first year and some of their NEWTs out of the way in their second year. They were also planning on working on their masteries in their second and third years, but they hadn't decided how many they would be trying for yet.

* * *

Harry and Hermione had also been working on their animagus transformations ever since they started at Hogwarts, and they'd already mastered their transformations. They knew from the last cycle that they could do the Animagus transformations, it just took time to go through the process, but they were shocked by the animagus forms they both took because last time they'd had wolf forms. This time, they both took Mngwa forms, when according to what everyone 'knew' about animagi, the forms taken could _not_ be magical. Mngwas are definitely magical creatures though, and both Harry and Hermione could transform into either Mngwa form and then change into the other one at will.

Of course, everyone also 'knew' that metamorphmagi couldn't take animagus forms, but Dora had recognised the signs of a metamorphmagus in Harry, and had helped him master his metamorphmagus transformations a lot more quickly and easily than she had. In return, Harry had shared the fact that he had achieved the animagus transformations in the last cycle when he didn't realise that he was a metamophmagus, so Dora had gone through the steps of the animagus transformation with them and with her metamorphmagus talent she had already mastered her animagus transformations, taking the form of a lynx.

While they were challenging the accepted rules of who could perform an animagus transformation, they prodded Remus to go through the process as well, and while he hadn't mastered it as yet, he had achieved his first animagus transformation successfully, into a wolf of course. Penny, Cedric, Fred and George, Angelina and Lee had also jumped at the chance to try for animagus forms under Minerva and Sirius's supervision and like Remus they had all achieved their first transformations successfully. Penny's form was an owl while Angelina's was a falcon, Cedric's was a wolfhound, Fred and George's were twin red foxes and Lee's was a foxhound. The other students weren't advanced enough to attempt magic at that level yet.

Harry and Dora were not sure which transformation 'law' they had broken after that, because too little was known about the extremely rare inherited metamorphmagus talent, but they believed that it was the metamophmagi 'law'. The accepted 'laws' of magic stated that metamorphmagi could not take animal forms, they also stated that witches or wizards could not take more than one animagus form.

Once they had mastered both animagus and metamorphmagus transformations however, they discovered that they could transform into animal forms at will, just as they could change into other human forms at will. These were not normal wizarding animal transformations though, as they remained as themselves and had no need to fight for control with their animal minds.

The steps and feeling of both the animagus and metamorphmagus forms of transformation were similar, so they could not be certain which talent they were employing to do this, but the fact that these animal transformations took more time and concentration than their animagus transformations did lead them to believe that they were metamorphmagus transformations, as did the fact that they could not include their clothes and they appeared to have restrictions on the size of their animal forms. They both tried turning themselves into beetles like Rita Skeeter's animagus form, but ended up as giant beetles the size of a turtle, they also tried to turn themselves into dragons, but were no bigger than a hippogriff in that form, they took this to mean that they could not alter their size as much as an animagus could.

Harry and Dora discussed this and they believed that the inaccurate so-called 'laws' for metamorphmagi came about because the ones who showed the talent in the past hadn't had the ability to become animagi, so they just decided that it wasn't possible for metamorphmagi.

* * *

They had had other tasks that they needed to complete over the past couple of months too. The first was to dismantle the obstacles of the so-called 'protections' that had been placed around the Philosopher's Stone, and return the stone to Nicholas Flamel. The only pieces that the professors assisting them had no idea about were the riddle used for the potions challenge and how to extract the stone from the mirror. This was not a problem because Harry and Hermione had the memories of how they'd resolve these challenges easily. Luckily Quirrell hadn't brought the troll in for his obstacle yet, as he was to do that on Halloween.

It was considerably more difficult to track Nicolas Flamel down, as Dumbledore had never revealed Flamel's whereabouts to Harry, but between the minds of those who made up their family and the resources of the Grand Chief of the Goblin Nation, they managed. Nicholas and his wife Perenelle were shocked and horrified to hear that Albus Dumbledore had used something as precious and as potentially catastrophic as the Philosopher's stone as bait for Voldemort, and that he had done so without any care that they both would have surely died if it had been lost to Voldemort. They were also horrified to learn what a monster Dumbledore had proven to be, as they hadn't seen any sign of that in the time they'd known him.

The Flamels agreed that they needed to leave the country and disappear again, now that their identities were known in Magical Britain. They gifted what they had previously given to Dumbledore (including that marvellous pensieve) to Harry, and officially assigned the voting proxies in Britain for the Noble and Ancient House of Flamel to Andi to strengthen the position of the Potter Alliance in the Wizengamot before they disappeared, taking two of Sirius's communications mirrors with them to keep in touch.

After they'd left, Andi told Harry that they had also made him the Heir to the House of Flamel and sole beneficiary to the vast Flamel fortune, as they had seen the greatness and humanity in him. Harry wasn't really surprised when they refused to answer the call when he called them to ask them to take it all back. After arguing the matter for a while, he called for and accepted the ring of the Heir to the House of Flamel, as in this world it added to the status and power of the Potter Alliance.

* * *

The other thing that they had to deal with was rather more dangerous, getting rid of the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. The problem was that Harry didn't know whether it had been as crazy as it was when he faced it in the last cycle because of what Tom Riddle did when he returned, or he had already corrupted its mind fifty years before when he made it do his bidding and attack the Muggleborn in Hogwarts.

In Harry's mind, the basilisk was like a dragon, so if it still had its mind, he was hoping that it might be possible to send it away to live out its life as a free creature away from men and therefore remove the threat that it represented at Hogwarts.

As much as he hoped for that though, they had to plan for the eventuality of having to kill it, and while Harry remembered the statement about the roosters' crow being death to basilisks, he didn't relish the idea of going up against it with nothing more than a bloody rooster. The Sword of Gryffindor had definitely proven itself capable of killing the basilisk (with Fawkes' help), but he would like to be able do so without the near death experience from the basilisk venom this time if possible, so he asked Gringott whether other weapons existed in the Goblin Nation which might be capable of killing the basilisk.

Gringott paled as he watched Harry's final battle with the basilisk but he nodded. "We do have a weapon which should be suitable for this task, if it finds you worthy. I must warn you though, if the spear does not find you worthy, touching it would mean your death."

Harry just looked at him. "The Spear?"

Gringott nodded. "Yes, the Spear of Lugh."

Hermione was the one who reacted the most to that as she'd studied more history and mythology than anyone else there (except Gringott), so Harry looked at her with a question in his eye.

Hermione nodded. "If there is any truth to the legends, the Spear of Lugh is more powerful than the Sword of Gryffindor. Also, being a spear, you hopefully wouldn't need to put your arm in the basilisk's mouth and risk getting caught by its fang again."

Harry turned back to Gringott and bowed. "I thank you for your offer Grand Chief Gringott. May we see whether the Spear of Lugh will accept me?"

Gringott returned his bow. "It will be my honour to escort you Lord Potter, and you Lady Granger." With that, he led the way out of his office.

The vault that held the spear was one of the oldest vaults that were buried far below Gringotts, on the same level as the Potter, Peverell, Black, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff vaults. Before he approached the spear, Gringott suggested that Harry call the Sword of Gryffindor to him, to show the spear who he was as it were. Harry just nodded and held up his hand to call the sword.

Ulfr was watching as Harry approached the spear with the Sword of Gryffindor in his hand, and the moment that the spear had judged him worthy was obvious to everyone in the vault, because the foreboding atmosphere suddenly vanished. Harry looked at Gringott, who nodded to say that this appeared to be a good sign, so he reached out to take it up. There was no doubt that the Spear of Lugh had accepted him as its master when the spearhead blazed for a moment and then settled down as Harry picked it up.

Before they left the vault, Gringott led them over to a stack of mirror faced shields. He explained that these had been meant for Gorgons, but perhaps they could help against the basilisk's gaze. After all, they didn't know whether the basilisk was immune to the effects of its own gaze.

They agreed with him and Harry shrunk the dozen shields to put them into Hermione's bag. He would have shrunk the Spear of Lugh and put it in his pocket, but it was resistant to magic, so he had to settle for disillusionment and notice-me-not charms on the spear.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Ulfr had Harry conjure a facsimile of the Spear of Lugh and put on his dragon skin armour, then took him to the training room for the first of a series of punishingly intensive training sessions in how to effectively use the spear and shield. Hermione joined them for this training, of course, as did Sirius, Remus, Alastor, Kingsley Shacklebolt and any of the goblin guards who weren't off escorting the others at the time. (Kingsley was Amelia's right hand man and a very capable warrior, so she insisted that he be the one who rounded out the twelve who would be going to Slytherin's chamber to deal with the basilisk. When Alastor supported this, Harry agreed.)

They spent a few days, training against transfigured basilisks (and even though these didn't have the killing gaze or venom of the real thing, both Andi and Poppy Pomfrey were put to work each night healing them of the injuries they'd accumulated). By the end of the third day, Ulfr decided that they were as good as they were going to get without months of training, so it was agreed that they would be going in the next day. No-one bothered trying to talk Hermione out of accompanying them to the chamber, because they knew that there was no way she was going to let Harry face the basilisk without her again. Hedwig was put out, as she was Harry's only familiar not participating in this task.

The next morning, six humans, six goblins, two Mngwas and a phoenix gathered in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with Professors Flitwick and Hardy (the new Defence Professor) and then after talking to Myrtle briefly, Harry used parseltongue to open the entry to the pipe leading down to the tunnels and activate the stairs in the pipe. The professors wished them luck, because they would be staying there to keep everyone else out and try to deal with the basilisk if it somehow got past them, and then they headed on down. Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus changed into their animagus forms before they did so because it would be easier and their senses were far sharper in their animal forms.

As soon as they reached the bottom, Alastor and Kingsley cast spells to detect any sign of living organisms while Harry and the others in animagus form used their senses. When none of them detected anything, they headed down the tunnel. There was no question which way to go, because the tunnel floor in one direction obviously hadn't been disturbed in several centuries, while the layers of mud covering the floor in the other direction had been pushed to the sides of the tunnel by a very large serpent.

Alastor and Kingsley were casting light down the tunnel in front of them and they, along with the goblins, carried their mirrored shields on their arms, ready to cast the basilisk's killing gaze back at it. Whenever they came across a side tunnel, Alastor and Kingsley cast life detection spells up it while the others used their animal senses, but they were all clear.

About fifteen minutes down the tunnel, the four Mngwas saw a shape at the edge of the light, closely followed by Alastor's magical eye and Remus's wolf form. Harry and Hermione knew that it was nothing to worry about, but let Alastor cast the life detection spell to give himself peace of mind. When they reached the shape, it was the twenty five foot cast off basilisk skin that Harry had discovered here in the last cycle.

Ten minutes after that they came to the doors of the Chamber of Secrets. The four animagi changed back into their human forms then, taking their mirror shields and spears off of their backs and getting ready to enter the chamber. The eight who hadn't transformed all readied the silencing charms on the rooster cages hung from the back of their shields for a quick removal (just because they didn't want to rely on the roosters didn't mean that they weren't willing to use them if they did work).

After Harry used parseltongue to open the doors so they could enter the chamber, it was rather anticlimactic, really. Harry called for the basilisk in parseltongue and then tried to control it when it came, but whatever Riddle had done to it had already driven it mad and it immediately attacked them so they removed the silencing charms from the roosters' cages. When the basilisk heard the roosters crowing, it dropped dead, just as it had been written. Just to be sure, Harry thrust the Spear of Lugh up through its open mouth and into its brain, replicating how he'd killed it with the sword in the last cycle. Fawkes was happy that she hadn't needed to recreate the rescue that she had seen in Harry's memories from the last cycle.

Alastor and Kingsley cast spells to detect anything else living in the chamber, but there was nothing other than the twelve of them and the familiars, so they sealed up the chamber and returned to Hogwarts after letting the others know that they were OK. While the contents of the chamber were rightfully Harry's as the Head of the House of Slytherin, they would come back later to have the goblins harvest the basilisk carcass and whatever else Harry said could be sold off. Harry would take advice as to how the proceeds of that should be divided, but all of those present and Hogwarts would get a share of it.

When they returned to the tower, they took the Spear of Lugh and the Gorgon shields back to Gringotts and left their memories of the basilisk so that the experts could plan how to best harvest it.

With 'Slytherin's Monster' dealt with, they used Harry's memories of the chamber from the last cycle and Myrtle's testimony of how she died to clear Hagrid's name and get his expulsion overturned. On the family's advice, Hagrid agreed to let everything go if Hogwarts paid the costs to have all of the memory and compulsion charms and bindings that had been placed on him removed at St Mungo's, and assisted him in finishing his education so that he could get his qualifications. Andi, Alastor, Amelia, Augusta and Arthur ensured that this was approved by the Hogwarts Board and Hagrid began studying with the family.

 **A/N: Yes, I realise that Remus as an animagus has been in other fanfics, but I'd had the idea before I read those stories, I was just trying to find the right way to work it into the story. That's one thing that's always amused me, how many writers come to the same great (IMHO) ideas independently. That's actually part of my criteria for choosing which writers to read more extensively, as I enjoy reading stories from others who choose similar rabbit holes to what I do in my stories.**


	4. Doubts, Betrothals and Altercations

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

As he walked into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry was nervous, because in his mind this was the first test of whether they had managed to really change anything with what they had done over the past couple of months. It was Halloween, the anniversary of his parents' deaths, the one day of the year when it was guaranteed that things would fall apart for him in the last cycle, could he get through it without a disaster this time?

With this in mind, he looked around the hall. Over on the Gryffindor table, Fred and George hadn't really changed, their pranks were better planned, less destructive and more spectacular with Sirius and Remus coaching them, and their prospects were better with the family behind them, but they were basically the still the same larrikins that he and Hermione had gotten to know last time. For that matter, their half brother Ron Fudge hadn't really changed either, he was still a lazy, self obsessed walking stomach who believed that the world revolved around him and couldn't work out why he was sitting alone. The most notable change in him was that _he_ was the one who was using the 'when my father hears about this' catch phrase this time instead of Draco, even though it was obvious to everyone that his father was avoiding him.

Draco, now he appeared to have changed, so far at least. Whether fear of being cast out of the Black family was enough to yield true change was another question altogether though. The only reason he made the effort was that Sirius threatened to take everything away from him if he didn't, so they would have to wait and see whether it would stick. Harry had to admit that he was looking forward to Draco finding out that his mother had taken up with a werewolf though, because Remus and 'Aunt Cissi' had been getting ever closer since Remus came back and started staying at Black House.

For that matter, he was sort of looking forward to the traditional Slytherins finding out that their House Mistress had taken up with the notable Gryffindor Transformation Master and Black blood traitor, Sirius, because that would really get to any who clung to the old beliefs.

Millie had certainly changed from how she was in the last cycle, but that was mainly because she'd been afraid to show her true self until her father was in Azkaban, now she was a true Slytherin Princess like Daphne, and she was admired as the brilliant beauty she was.

Closer to home in Ravenclaw, both Hermione and Luna were more confident and happier in this cycle, but once again, that was more because they'd been afraid to show their true selves in the last cycle, not to mention that Hermione was being potioned by that bitch who was now in Azkaban, may she rot in hell.

In Hufflepuff, Neville was happier and more confident, but that was just the true Neville shining through. Of course, the fact that they'd dragged him off to Diagon Alley and got him a proper wand in the first week instead of leaving him to struggle with his father's incompatible wand for five years probably helped. Harry made a mental note to show Neville's Gran what she did to him in the last cycle, her arrogance and dogmatic attitude had almost destroyed her grandson by the time he finally turned things around for himself. He would have had a much better life if she'd supported him.

So when it all came down to it, for better or for worse, the only person who seemed to have made a real change was Draco, and even that was questionable because that change had been brought about by fear.

* * *

Harry was jolted out of his introspection by a hot breath in his ear carrying a whisper. "I've decided that tonight is the night to start having sex, are you coming back or will I have to find someone else?"

He turned to stare at Hermione in shock. "What… What are you talking about?"

She giggled and leant in to kiss him on the cheek, whispering in his ear again. "I've been trying to get your attention for at least five minutes but you were in another world. So I decided to try something to shock you out of it. I guess it worked!"

Harry grinned at her. "You could say that!" he leaned in closer with a pout to whisper. "Does that mean that we won't be having sex after all?"

Hermione snorted before whispering back. "No love, you know that the Grey Lady was right, we're not ready for that yet. We've waited seven and a half years for this, a little longer won't hurt us. I want it to be right, so I'd rather wait until our bodies are ready."

The smile he gave her made her rethink her statement for a moment, until he whispered. "Of course! We've got our whole life in front of us, and no-one's going to interfere with us this time!"

She hugged him for that before continuing. "Not if they want to live! So where were you? What had you so preoccupied?"

"I was thinking about the fact that everything we've done so far hasn't really changed anyone, and that made me wonder whether we can really change anything. We've stopped Riddle and Dumbledore and their main followers, but the Ministry is starting to interfere now, where they didn't really do anything for years yet last time. Have we just shuffled the deck so the next few hands are a little different but it still ends up the same?"

Hermione hissed at him. "No! We _have_ made a difference! Luna and her father are in a better space, and so is Arthur! We've freed him, and us, from being forced to do what Dumbledore and that bitch wanted. Neville will be that much stronger because he was spared five years of being told and believing that he was little more than a squib. And do you really think that sparing Sirius another three and a half years in that hellhole didn't make a difference?"

She reached over to pull his face up to make him look at her. "You stopped two monsters and by that saved thousands of lives and prevented untold suffering _and_ you've have ripped control of this world from the Pureblood supremacists. Many of the people who stayed under their boots last time now have a stake in this world and a say in what happens to them, how can you say that that doesn't make a difference?"

"But what if all we did is create a new monster? Fudge is already getting more backing than he ever got in the last cycle, and the Purebloods are all getting behind him because they don't have Voldemort or Dumbledore to get behind any more. We saw last time what lengths Fudge will go to if he feels threatened or he doesn't get his way. How do you think he'll go with the Purebloods treating him as their champion?"

They weren't whispering any more, so Hermione took his hand and led him out of the Great Hall. The others went to follow them, but Hermione managed to convince all but Ulfr and Alastor to stay for the feast. As soon as she worked out that she wasn't going to manage to calm Harry's fears on her own, she dragged him to Black house via the trunk floo, Alastor and Ulfr of course went with them.

As she had been banking on, Sirius, Narcissa, Arthur and Amelia were there, because Amelia had been spending more and more time there since Arthur moved in. She explained Harry's concerns and they called for Andi and Ted, Augusta Longbottom and the Greengrasses to come over, as these were the other people in their camp who had the most knowledge of the politics of their world.

Alastor was quite ready to admit that he didn't know anywhere near as much about the machinations behind the movements of power as they did. He could look after the lass, but he wasn't up to managing her business, which was why at his suggestion they'd made Narcissa Hermione's new Regent and Proxy Holder. Sirius's proxies had also been transferred to the new Baroness Black, so that the two Black sisters now split the bulk of the Potter Alliance's voting block between them.

The Blacks had traditionally been power brokers in the politics of Magical Britain, so most children of the Black family were well versed in the politics of their world. Sirius had been the exception to this as he'd rebelled against the family from an early age, but both Andi and Cissi had mastered this element of family tradition, and that had quickly become obvious when between them they dominated the Wizengamot. Augusta had traditionally been a leader in Light House politics in the Wizengamot and Maximilian Greengrass was a leader in the Neutral Houses. As a well respected legal advocate of Magical Britain, Ted could address any legal questions and Amelia could address questions about the Ministry, so if this group couldn't answer Harry's concerns, no-one could.

When they heard Harry's concerns, they conceded that they weren't unfounded, but challenged most of his points as Hermione had. Ted pointed out that while the voting block that the Potter Alliance held and the fact that the majority of the Muggleborn and Neutral factions voted with them meant that the traditionalist Purebloods had little chance of getting any dodgy new laws passed, the Ministry could still use existing laws for their own ends, and there were many obscure laws that had been brought in over the history of Magical Britain that they would not like.

When he was asked for examples of this, Ted faltered as he tried to think of one but Max jumped in and spat out. "The Heritage Preservation Act!"

Most of them looked confused at that, but Augusta swore, and as that was the first time most of them had heard her swear, they were fairly sure that this was something bad. Ted looked grim when he dredged what it was up from the depths of his memory, but when none of them expanded on the subject, Amelia snapped. "Well, what is it?"

Ted took a deep breath to try and settle himself and spoke. "It was brought in during the last of the big Goblin Rebellions, when Magical Britain had been greatly reduced by the losses of the war. Quite a few of the Noble Houses had almost been wiped out in the fighting, and in the panic that followed, this act managed to get passed to ensure the continuity of the Noble Houses that ruled Magical Britain. Basically, what the Act says is that in times where the Noble Houses of Magical Britain are in peril, the Ministry has the right to enforce unions to ensure that the Noble Houses do not die out. What this means, is that the Ministry can force betrothals or marriages on unattached witches of childbearing age, but especially those who are Head or Heiress to their house without an heir, and any unattached wizard who is Head or Heir to his house and does not have an heir."

He paused and looked around the room. "This Act hasn't been used in over two hundred years, but the one time it was used, the Ministry used it to take control of the power and wealth of many rich houses by betrothing their daughters, many of them children, to the allies of the Ministry. They also used it to betroth the daughters of Muggleborn and other houses who had opposed them to their friends and Allies to punish and control their fathers."

* * *

The others just stared at him and Harry blurted out. "You've got to be bloody well joking! How can something like that be allowed to exist?"

"As I said, it hasn't been used in over two hundred years, so it's just about been forgotten, I know I that blocked it out it after I had to cover it when I was studying law. I expect that Max only remembered it because he's politically savvy and made a point of knowing anything what might threaten his girls..."

Max nodded grimly. "Yes, there are all sorts of rules that make a man with two daughters who often takes an opposing position to those in power lose sleep, but that's one of the worst of them."

They were all looking worried now, and Andi spoke up. "If there was ever anything they'd choose to use against us, it's this. The purge of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's supporters eradicated over a quarter of the Noble Houses, so they might get away with enacting it now. That would mean that we could need to arrange….."

Hermione cut in with. "Maybe thirty unions."

"What? It can't be that many!"

"It is if we're including Emmeline, Hestia, Dora, Remus, Amelia and Narcissa. I know that Emmeline, Hestia, Dora and Remus don't have Heirs and while the House of Bones and Narcissa do, Amelia and Narcissa would still qualify as unattached witches of childbearing age, and the part they've played in our successes will make them targets. It might be even more if we want to include Draco, Parvati and Professor Sinistra."

"Merlin's beard! I can't keep up with you Hermione, but I have no doubt you're right. What can we do? We can't cover all of those unions!"

Ted cut then. "Maybe we can. Hermione, how many of those unions are for houses that the girls have to maintain?"

"Maybe fifteen? I presume that all the girls except Astoria are the heirs to their houses?"

Andi shook her head. "No, as far as I know, Padma, Penny and Tracey aren't the heirs to their houses, and for that matter nor are Fred, George or Lee. Aurora mentioned once that she wasn't in line for her house either."

Narcissa interjected "Don't bother including Draco, I don't know where my son stands as yet, and they can't get any more than my title if they force a union onto him anyway."

Ted nodded. "In that case I think we can cover everyone if the Diggories and Patils agree, if they don't we may have to try something more drastic."

He summoned parchment, ink pot and quill, putting them in front of Hermione and saying. "Can you write out lists of the male and female houses that you think we need to cover please Hermione."

When she quickly did that, he said. "For a start, match the houses that you have to maintain to the most compatible houses on Harry's list."

When she did that he nodded. "Good, now before we go any further, I should explain what I'm thinking here, we'll go through it all with everyone to make sure they all agree before we do anything of course, but this is just to see if it's workable. You see we have two types of betrothal and marriage contracts in Magical Britain. There's the standard one which is for continuing the male line, and another one that was passed into law back in the days of the Goblin wars to continue houses via the female line where no male heirs survived. In the female line contracts, the children take the name of the mother and continue her house's line. There is a caveat on these though that allows for both the male and female line contracts to be entered into for the same couple and where that is used the issue will alternate between the houses. Arthur, you should know this, because that must have used for your marriage to Molly for Charlie to have become Head of the House of Prewett."

Arthur shook his head. "I don't know that I was ever told that Ted, if I did my memory of it was removed. As far as I know the first I had ever heard of Charlie inheriting the House of Prewett was when I got that note in the Wizengamot."

Ted ducked his head. "I'm sorry Arthur, I didn't realise. But that's what I'm planning on using here. For Harry's four houses that Hermione has matched her houses to, I'm proposing to write both male and female line betrothal contracts, this will satisfy the needs of both houses for each pairing. All of these betrothal contracts will stipulate that marriage and consummation is not to be discussed until both parties have reached their majority, and that they can be cancelled up until the marriage by agreement between the two houses. Max, Anastasia, if you agree I propose to write a male line contract for Astoria and female line contract for Daphne to Harry as the Heir to the House of Black…."

The Greengrasses looked at each other and nodded, so Max looked back at Ted and nodded again.

"As Millie is extremely vulnerable as an unattached head of a major house, especially after her ordeal, I'd like to have her linked to Harry who has the strongest houses, so I'll write both male and female line contacts between her as the Head of the House of Bulstrode and Harry as the Heir to the House of Flamel."

"Augusta, Amelia, I think a female line contract between Neville and Susan and a male line contract between Neville and Tracey makes sense?..."

Augusta and Amelia nodded.

"Arthur, I propose female and male line contracts between Angelina and Fred and Katie and George, with the female lines taking precedence as the lines to be continued?"

Arthur nodded.

"Male and female line contracts between Bill and Dora."

Arthur nodded again and Ted looked at Andi who also nodded.

"A male line contract between Charlie as the Head of the House of Prewett and Penny."

Arthur nodded again.

"And a male line contract between you and Amelia."

Amelia nodded with a smile to Arthur and he matched it, looking back at Ted and nodding again.

"I suggest female and male line contracts between Lee and Luna, with House Lovegood taking precedence again as she has the house to continue. A male line contract between you and Remus Narcissa, and a female line contract between him and Emmeline."

Narcissa nodded.

"Then all that's left is a male line contract between Sirius and Aurora and a female line contract between him and Hestia….."

Andi cut in. "You do know that Sirius can't sire any children after what he went through in Azkaban, don't you Ted?"

He nodded. "Yes love, none of this is about actually continuing lines, the purpose is purely to put the legal frameworks in place to protect us from the Ministry trying to force any of our people into unions with someone they choose. If we have these legal contracts in place for everyone at risk, the Ministry won't be able to touch them with the Heritage Preservation Act…. And that brings us to the ones I'm most worried about, Cedric, Padma and Parvati. Cedric's father is faithful to the Ministry…. don't forget how he tried to revoke the permission that Cedric's mother gave for him to move into the tower for his own safety…. and Padma and Parvati's parents are all about getting suitable matches for their daughters….."

He paused and looked at Amelia "Close your ears for a moment Amelia."

Looking back at the others he continued. "The best chance of this succeeding might actually be to put a compulsion on both the Diggories and the Patils to convince them that Cedric fell in love with Padma but she insisted that her and Parvati were a package deal, so if he wanted anything from her he'd have to take both of them, permanently. They should sign the contracts if they believe that."

Amelia shook her head. "My main problem with that isn't the illegality of what you're proposing Ted, it's that I doubt that it would work."

"Yeah, I know, but the only other option I can think of is to have Padma become a vassal of the House of Potter, and then have Andi, as Harry's Regent, sign a male line contract between Padma and Harry as the Heir of Flamel. If we took that option though, we'd just have to hope that Cedric will be safe because his father's in the Ministry and that they'll leave Parvati alone because she's not part of us."

That shocked them all into silence, because up until Ted slapped them in the face with that, this had been an interesting exercise in outwitting the Ministry, but that brought them face to face with the reality of what could actually happen. Ted had given Hermione an idea with that though.

"What if _Cedric_ became the vassal of the House of Potter and we got Padma and Parvati to help convince their parents that they all fell in love and the girls are willing to share Cedric? The fact that Cedric was willing become a vassal of a more powerful house to make this happen would support the idea that they're in love, and being linked to the powerful House of Potter would no doubt make him be more attractive to their parents than just being the Heir of a lesser Noble House…."

They all stared at her, and then Ted and Amelia nodded, almost together. Ted smiled at her. "I do believe that that would work, and better yet, it's quite legal! I'm sure Parvati would go along with it even if she doesn't believe the threat is real, because Dora tells us that she's got a crush on Cedric. You really are a brilliant witch Hermione! The only potential problem I can see is Amos arguing that Cedric was confounded into doing it, but we can disprove that easily enough by getting Cedric tested by St Mungo's."

He snorted, "Of course, Cedric may be forced to follow through with the act a little to 'prove his love' with Parvati at least, even though I don't think that Padma would insist on that."

The others burst out laughing at that, because they could just see the flirty Parvati insisting on something like that, but they didn't see Cedric really minding making out with the beautiful Indian Princess either, and they knew that he'd make sure that it didn't go too far, so it was something that none of them had an issue with.

It was agreed that they'd sit down and talk this through with everyone, and then talk to the parents who weren't part of the group. When they went to the parents, the stipulation in the contracts that they would wait until both parties had reached their majority to make the decision about when they would marry put that decision at least three years down the track for everyone except for Bill, Charlie, Dora and Penny (and the adults of course), which should make them more comfortable with the idea.

Most of the parents had seen enough in the past ten to fifteen years to understand and agree with the concerns that the group held about the Heritage Protection Act, and the fact that the most of the group had already done this reinforced to the parents that they were serious about this.

Cedric, Padma and Parvati had little trouble convincing the Patels that they were in love and serious about getting betrothed and they readily signed the contracts, though Cedric had to put on a display of affection with Parvati as expected. Now they were just waiting to see how long it took for Amos Diggory to discover that his son had a) become a vassal of the House of Potter and b) become betrothed to the two Patil girls, then the fun would begin.

They had had Cedric tested for charms before and after the betrothal contracts were signed and specifically asked the healers to check for removed charms both times. With the official statements from St Mungo's that Cedric was clear of charms and that there had been no sign of any removed charms either, Amos wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

* * *

They got their proof that they hadn't been paranoid when they came back from the Christmas break, because Andi, Alastor, Augusta and Amelia were all owled notices to say that under the Heritage Protection Act, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Susan had been selected as examples of endangered houses and therefore the Ministry decreed that they would be betrothed to the most suitable matches. More notices came in for all of the students except for Fred, George and Lee, and Dora, Bill and Charlie got them as well.

It wasn't only them who were receiving these notices though, quite a few families who voted with the Muggleborn and Neutral factions and parents of other exceptionally talented Muggleborn witches did as well. Luckily most of them had heeded the warnings that were quietly given after Halloween, and they had used the betrothal contracts that Ted had put together as the template for the contracts to betroth their sons and daughters to like minded girls and boys. The parents were very grateful for the warnings when they saw the 'suitable matches' that the Ministry was trying to link their children to, though none were more onerous than the contracts to link Hermione to Ronald Fudge, Penny to Percival Crouch and Harry to Ginevra Scrimgeour.

Narcissa did receive a notice for Draco, but at the Wizengamot session where the Ministry notices were addressed en-mass, Sirius advised the Ministry officials that if Draco became betrothed to their choice, they would have to issue a new contract for Draco No-Name, because he would be cast out of the family Black and therefore no longer be the Heir to Narcissa Black's title.

The Ministry official tried to say that he couldn't do that, so Ted just requested clarification from the court officials. When the court officials ruled that the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black had every right to cast out any member of the House of Black and thereby remove them as an Heir to any branch of the House of Black, the Ministry officially withdrew Draco's betrothal contract.

Next the Ministry tried to get a ruling made that Harry and Hermione could not have multiple betrothal contracts with one another, and therefore have all of their betrothal contracts cancelled, but Ted just supplied the court officials with references to numerous instances over history that showed that this was a common practice for families which included multiple houses. After the court officials shot that down as well, the Ministry officials who had been sent to the Wizengamot session to stomp on any complaints about the Ministry betrothal contracts and return with the families' signed acceptances were starting to panic.

Ted went through the Ministry betrothal contracts issued for the family and shot them down one after the other, showing in each case that legally binding betrothal contracts between the families had been registered with Gringotts, as was traditionally required under law in Magical Britain, back in November and that this was reflected in the magical records as at those dates. Therefore, as Ted and the other solicitors went through the ministry betrothal contracts for the people that they were representing, the vast majority of the Ministry contracts were made invalid by pre-existing legal betrothal contracts that had been properly registered months ago.

Ted pointed out that the Ministry would have known this it they had attempted to register their contracts, or checked the magical records for that matter. (The Ministry's loathing of the Goblins almost guaranteed that they would not have done this.)

The few who had ignored their warnings were the only ones who failed to have the Ministry's betrothal contracts rejected by the Wizengamot, and they were small fish. All of those contracts that the Ministry people had specifically been tasked by the Minister himself with ensuring that they were ratified had been rejected and there seemed no way of getting around the legal contracts that were already in place.

They had no doubt that they'd be severely punished if they went back and told the Minister and his Senior Undersecretary that they'd failed to have any of the most important contracts ratified, so they made one last, desperate attempt and claimed that there was an obvious conspiracy to defy the lawful orders of the Ministry of Magic going on here, because these so-called betrothal contracts had _all_ supposedly been lodged within a few weeks of each other. Their spokesman made the mistake of shaking the parchments in his hand at the bench and Madam Marchbanks had him. "What's that you are waving about, bring it here!"

Only then did he realise what he'd done and he tried to say that they were nothing, they were just some parchments he'd happened to have in his hand. "Well there should be no problem with presenting them as I have ordered you to. Bring. Them. Here. Now!"

He'd missed the signal to the Chamber Guards, but he couldn't miss the fact that four guards were converging on him, so he did the only thing that he could under the circumstances and went forward to hand them over to the Clerk of the Court. The clerk cast spells to duplicate the lists and then presented the originals to the Chief Witch, who murmured to him to check the affiliations of all the names on the lists before beginning to look at them herself.

Madam Marchbanks frowned as she looked through the lists, but waited for her clerk to finish doing what she had asked him to do and turn around. When he did so, she asked. "Have you found any patterns in the lists that you have examined Somersby?"

"Yes, Ma'am, the recipients of the betrothal contracts issued by the Ministry of Magic under the Heritage Protection Act on the first page nearly all belonged to families who are part of what is generally known as the Potter Alliance. The ones on the second page are mostly part of the Muggleborn or Neutral factions in the Wizengamot."

"And those they were to be betrothed to?"

"The other parties all belonged to families who are either connected to the Ministry of Magic or who have recently supported the Minister for Magic Ma'am."

"I see, thank you Somersby."

She pierced the Ministry official with a look that made him wish he was anywhere but here. "It appears that there is indeed a conspiracy going on here Mister Habersham, but we have been misled as to who is perpetrating it. Please present the Ministry's justification for enacting the Heritage Protection Act at this time, and the criteria that was used for selecting the houses to be bound by these Betrothal contracts."

"I. I do not have that information with me Ma'am."

"Well it must on file, send someone to retrieve it and bring it here now. And tell them to hurry, we have wasted considerable time on this matter already!"

He was about to say that he couldn't do that but he didn't think that he would survive the attempt, so he grabbed one of the others and hissed at him to go get the bloody documentation that she wanted and get back quick smart!

As the lesser minion ran off to try and get something that would placate the Chief Witch, she addressed Ted. "Lord Tonks, you appear to be representing nearly everyone on this first page. I must agree that it is strange to see so many betrothal contracts being formally lodged together in a time when the practice has fallen out of favour with most families. I don't see many of these young people listed agreeing to something like this without good reason, are you able to share with us their reasons for doing so?"

Ted looked up at the boxes which made up the top tier of the Wizengamot seats and were occupied by Harry, Andi, Hermione, Narcissa and Sirius as the representatives of the only Noble and Most Ancient Houses in the Wizengamot. Harry shared a look with Hermione and nodded to Ted, so he answered the Chief Witch.

"It was Lord Potter Ma'am. He had a foreboding of something bad coming on Halloween, which you may remember is not a happy night for his family, and Lady Granger called for a family meeting to help talk him out of his concerns. We didn't manage to talk him out of them, and in fact he convinced _us_ that there may be good reason for his misgivings. When we were discussing what form what was worrying Lord Potter may take, someone mentioned the Heritage Protection Act and he agreed that that was it."

He glanced dismissively at the Ministry table before looking back at Madam Marchbanks. "You may recall that Lord Potter and Lady Granger have not been well treated by the Ministry since they accepted their places in our society Ma'am, so when he heard that the Ministry could order them to be betrothed to whoever it may choose, Lord Potter was concerned, for Lady Granger more than himself, so he asked her if she would agree to marry him when they were old enough and she said yes. It was quite touching actually Ma'am. Anyway, while I was writing up the betrothal contracts as requested for the two of them, the rest of our group discussed this and came to the consensus that as Lord Potter has normally been proven correct when he has been concerned about such things, arrangements should be made to ensure that everyone in our group would be protected against this in case his concerns came to pass. I would say that the fact that we are here today shows that Lord Potter's forebodings were in fact quite valid Ma'am."

"A moving story, thank you Lord Tonks. Tell me, does Lord Potter get these forebodings often? Would you say that he is a seer?"

Ted looked up at Harry again but this time proceeded without asking permission. "He gets them occasionally Ma'am, and as I said he is usually proven correct when he does. As to whether he is a seer, well I'd say that depends on what your definition of a seer is. I'm sure that he would deny it and say that he only gets these feelings occasionally, but as I've said, when he does they've more often than not proven correct..."

He paused, as if uncertain whether to continue. "When I read the particulars of the Heritage Protection Act, I must admit that I was dubious, because I didn't see how the criteria for enacting it could be met in today's society, but I was acting on my client's orders so I completed and lodged the betrothal contracts in accordance with requirements. Given the fact that our friends, their children and my own daughter and sister-in-law wished to follow Lord Potter and Lady Granger's lead in this, I ensured that the contracts for all of them were properly completed and lodged, and as I said, this was obviously the right move."

"Would you happen to have a copy of the Heritage Protection Act with you Lord Tonks? We were not informed that this was the basis for what was being brought before of us today so we did not come prepared with copies. I would like to refresh my memory of the terms of the Act."

Ted hid his smile as he said. "Most certainly Madam Chief Witch." and took the document (with breakdowns of everyone who the Ministry betrothal contracts had been issued to the two times it had been enacted attached) to the Clerk of the Court, who once again copied the documents and handed the originals to the Chief Witch. They both had plenty of time to read the documents because it was well over half an hour before the Ministry official returned, but he didn't come back with the required documentation, he brought the Minister for Magic's Senior Undersecretary, Delores Umbridge, instead.

* * *

Madam Marchbanks ignored Umbridge as she skewered the man who had returned empty handed with a look. "Where is the documentation that you were told to bring man? You have been gone for over half an hour and you return with _nothing_?"

Umbridge was trying to get her attention with her usual false throat clearing. "Hem Hem!" "Hem Hem!" "Hem Hem!" until Madam Marchbanks turned on her. " _ **What?**_ Do you have the documentation I required hidden on you somewhere Miss Umbritch?"

Umbridge only just managed to avoid snapping at the Chief Witch that respect for her position must be shown because she was the _**Senior**_ Undersecretary to the Minister, and responded with a terse. "That is _Madam_ _Umbridge_! And no, the Minister has asked me to come and explain this matter to you as you obviously do not understand what is going on here."

She had a hard time swallowing her response when the Chief Witch looked at the Clerk of the Court and clearly said. "This should be interesting!" before turning back to Umbridge and saying. "Very well Miss Umbritch. _Explain_ the Ministry's justification for enacting the Heritage Protection Act at this time, and the criteria that was used for selecting the houses to be bound by these betrothal contracts that they have issued!"

Umbridge gritted her teeth and ground out. "All the details of what was involved in the Ministry's decision to enact the Heritage Protection Act requirements and the process used for selecting the parties for the betrothals would take much too long to explain Madam Marchbanks. All that is important here is that these illegal betrothal contracts that these _people_ have fabricated must be cancelled and the rightful betrothal contracts issued by the Ministry must be enforced!"

Madam Marchbanks looked at her for about thirty seconds and then said "I must wonder about your ability to explain even simple matters then Miss Umbritch, as it clearly says right here….." looking down, she continued as she read the definition from the Act. "In times of war, when the on-going conflict is endangering the continued existence of the ruling Noble Houses, the Ministry of Magic may mandate betrothal contacts for the surviving members of endangered houses for the purpose of ensuring the continuance of their lines." She looked up at Umbridge briefly before continuing. "And the criteria for selecting the houses to be joined by these betrothal contracts is…. Any Endangered Houses with only one living member will be joined to another house with a proven propensity for generating offspring, to ensure that Heirs will be born to prevent that line from dying out."

She looked up then "Miss Umbritch, according to any reports that I have been privy to, we are not currently in a time of war, let alone an on-going conflict which is threatening to kill off the Noble Houses, so once again I ask, what justification does the Ministry offer for enacting the Heritage Protection measures at this time?"

Umbridge just looked at her.

"Perhaps that was too difficult, lets try something simpler. The Act defines Endangered Houses as those with only one living member, but of the list in front of me here, only Lord Potter and perhaps Lady Bulstrode and Percival Crouch meet that criteria, in fact there are multiple members of three different families on this list. However I see no mention of numerous other houses that I know to have been reduced to a single member, so I must give credence to what the Clerk of the Court has noted, that nearly every recipient on the primary list for Ministry's betrothal mandates is a member of what is generally known as the Potter Alliance, while the secondary list is made up of members of Muggleborn or Neutral Houses who oppose the Minister's interests. I will leave that for now to address the other half of these mandates. As I read out, the criteria for these houses is the proven propensity for generating offspring, which I would have thought any fool could read to mean having a number of children, and yet the families of most of the ones on this list have only had one child for the past two or three generations. In addition to this, my Clerk has identified all of the names on this list as belonging to the Ministry or Minister Fudge's supporters."

She stopped and looked at Umbridge for a while. "Miss Umbritch, I demand answers! The Ministry has demonstrably made illegal use of the Heritage Protection Act in an obvious attack against those who Minister Fudge regards as his opponents, for the benefit of his supporters. If the Ministry wishes to avoid serious repercussions here, you will give me the answers I require now, and they had better be good ones!"

Umbridge tried to bluster. "You have no right to _demand_ anything of the Minister! The Minister has rightfully required this and it is your responsibility to enforce his orders!"

Madam Marchbanks snapped at the chamber guards to bind and silence her. Umbridge could do nothing but watch and silently rage as the Chief Witch addressed the Wizengamot.

* * *

"The Clerk of the Court is now distributing copies of the documents that we have been discussing here. There is no doubt in my mind that the Ministry has wilfully breached the conditions and intent of the Heritage Protection Act in order to use it as a medium to attack notable Wizengamot members in a blatant attempt to seize the power and wealth of their houses and gain the upper hand in the Wizengamot. The documentation that you are receiving includes lists of those houses that betrothal contracts were being forced upon, and who the other parties in those contracts were on both occasions that Heritage Protection has been enacted. On both occasions, the Ministry has ignored the conditions and requirements of the Act and used it for its own gain. I will be calling on the Minister for Magic to come before the Wizengamot with all requisite evidence to answer the apparent illegality of the Ministry's actions here. At this time, I order all remaining Ministry issued betrothal orders null and void as they were not lawfully issued."

She stopped and looked around the Wizengamot seats. "There is a larger issue here however, in that the two times that the Heritage Protection Act has been activated, it was done in defiance of the conditions and requirements inherent to the Act and used for nefarious purposes. I therefore submit that, given the way that it has been misused on the only two occasions that it has been activated by the Ministry of Magic, the Heritage Protection Act in fact endangers the integrity of the Noble Houses of Magical Britain and propose that we hereby abolish this Act to prevent any further attempts to misuse it in this way."

"A further document has been included in what you have been provided which is another act that was passed last year. This act enables the Ministry to override any will that may exist and seize all holdings and worth of any house where the last member of the house dies before they reach their majority. I submit that this is another Act which endangers the Noble Houses, because it provides a significant incentive for nefarious individuals to assassinate the last member of a Noble House for the purpose of claiming the fortune of that house. I propose that this Act also be abolished, to protect the members of the Noble Houses from assassination."

She left the Wizengamot members to read the documents, and just looked at Umbridge trying to fight her bindings for a while. If they'd been listening, and they would have because she set them up to, she'd planted the barbs to make them think about the fact that many of the houses in their own factions could be put at risk by this Act that Dumbledore and Fudge had put through last year. At the time many of them had agreed to it, following the lead of those who directed their factions, but now they had to wonder, were they really safe from this? Fudge was proving himself to be more ambitious than he had previously, and he'd lost most of his contributors and half of what he had on the day of the purge. This, when combined with the fact that their factions were far weaker than they'd been in the past and therefore could not protect them the way that they used to, should make them rather nervous about leaving tools like these two Acts in Fudge's hands.

Madam Marchbanks had left them to stew on that for well over half an hour, using the excuse that she was giving them sufficient time to read the documents, so she wasn't too surprised when she called for the votes to abolish the laws and she got a clear majority to do so both times. She didn't bother trying to hide her smile of triumph when she ordered Umbridge released from her bindings and sent her back to Fudge. That look of triumph morphed into a malicious grin when Umbridge literally ran out of the chamber in an attempt to get to a loo before she had an accident, because she'd been locked there in the binding charm for at least forty five minutes.

* * *

When Madam Marchbanks went to leave the chamber, Amelia asked to have a word in private with her, so she went back to her office with her for a talk. When they'd settled down, each with a glass of Firewhiskey, Amelia started. "Well for a start, on behalf of Susan and the rest of us, thank you for stopping those hideous Ministry betrothal contacts, and even more so for getting those two atrocious laws abolished, not having them hanging over the kids' heads is certainly a relief, but that brings us to what I asked you here for…. Stopping Fudge and his minions like that was wonderful, but we're afraid that it has put _you_ at risk, so we'd like you to accept a few of the things that we rely on to keep us safe. You can call them a loan and return when we're sure you're safe if it makes you feel better, but we'll feel a lot better if we know that you have the means to keep yourself safe."

Griselda looked at her for a while and nodded slowly. "Alright Amelia, we'll call them a loan, for a while at least, so what are we talking about?"

Amelia smiled as she put one of the mirrors on the desk. "This for a start. These communications mirrors will work anywhere and will let you contact anyone else who has one. We don't know how far they'll reach yet, but we do know that they'll reach at least as far as Romania and Egypt. Once we set it up to recognise your magical signature, all you have to do is open it and say the name of the person you want to talk to. But _this_ is what you'll really love..."

She returned the trunk on the floor beside the desk to its full size, and opening the lid on one side, she waved Griselda in. When she joined her inside, she was greeted with. "This is bigger than my flat!"

Amelia smiled. "It's a lot more secure, too! We'll go over the features, but these are warded better than most houses. You could actually leave it in your office and live in here quite comfortably, in fact that's what I do much of the time now. Quite frankly, I think that would be a lot safer than travelling to and from your flat, but if you insist on living in your flat, we can get the goblins in to ward it properly for you. You remember how Harry told us that the Floo Network is compromised at some point?"

Griselda nodded.

"Well these trunks have a secure private Floo Network linking them. There are twenty trunks all up on it but a few aren't in use yet. I leave one in my office, so if you do leave your's in your flat you can get to the Ministry via that one. I'll get your magic registered to everything and tell you all the security codes, but for now why don't I show you around?"

After a fifteen minute tour, Griselda decided that the living arrangement inside of her trunk was more comfortable than her flat, so they just went back to her flat to get her things and put them into the trunk before they headed to her office. Amelia put stronger wards on the office so that most people couldn't get in unless Griselda let them in, and then they used the trunk floo to head to Black House where they were having a little party to celebrate beating Fudge and having those two laws abolished.

* * *

Griselda asked whether they were going to cancel the betrothals now and Harry shook his head. "I don't know about the others, but Hermione and I at least are staying with them. As you noted last time we talked, we're in it for the long haul, and staying betrothed won't change that. Keeping the contracts in place may also protect us from anyone else trying something of this nature."

Griselda smiled at him. "As usual you have everything thought out Lord Potter…."

"Harry, please, Ma'am. I only use Lord Potter with outsiders and I don't believe that that applies to you, does it?"

That got another smile. "No, I don't believe it does…. So, what are you." waving her hand around to indicate the group in general. "planning to do about Fudge? We cannot leave him to keep doing what he's doing."

Harry stepped closer, so she knew that he hadn't shared this with the group at large yet. "We will have to weather the storm for a while, and let Fudge make the mistakes that will build enough popular support to bring him down. Over that time, we'll be doing our best to ensure people come to see who is the better man for the job."

"And that is?"

Harry turned to look pointedly at Arthur and Griselda chortled. "Oh yes, I can see that. The man he is now that he's free of what was done to him is capable of bringing Magical Britain back to its former glory. I approve Harry! So what other changes to the Ministry do you have planned?"

Harry looked around quickly. "Well the Umbitch has to go…."

"Umbitch! That's delightful, I must remember that next time I have to talk to the creature."

"Yes, quite aside from her loathsome views and willingness to do anything to support Fudge, I must admit that I have a few personal issues with her from the last time, as she sent dementors to kill me when I was with my Muggle relatives and made extensive use of a blood quill to punish me and try and force me to parrot the stories Fudge made up to convince everyone that Voldemort wasn't back. The other big change that I'd like to see is to get rid of the man that the Ministry tried to make into my father-in-law. Scrimgeour hasn't done his worst yet this time around, but we can dig up enough to discredit him and get him out of the Auror's office and the Ministry. That will also disqualify Scrimgeour from making a credible play for the Minister's position, you may remember that I told you he took over from Fudge last time. I'll be trying to convince Madam Bones to make Kingsley the head Auror when we get rid of him, because we need someone who can be trusted in that role."

Griselda shook her head with a smile. "I can only say that I'm glad I'm on the same side as you Harry, I'd hate to be going up against you. That is not a healthy place to be from what I have seen."

Harry grinned at that and they went back to enjoying the party. When the party wound down the guests used the trunk floo to go back to Hogwarts and their homes, while Griselda went back to her new residence which was sitting in her office.

* * *

Back at Hogwarts, they offered Parvati and Professor Sinistra the option of getting out of their betrothal contracts after a suitable wait, but Parvati was quite enamoured with the idea of being betrothed to Cedric, even if her twin sister was as well, and Aurora was happy to leave her's in place to give Sirius a nudge towards making it into something more permanent, they hadn't been together that long, but she was quite liking being with the larrikin. The rest of the family decided to leave their's in place as well, they always had the option to get out of them if they wanted to, and for the most part they liked the feeling of security they gave, so most of them started wearing their betrothal rings openly.

They weren't the only ones either, many of the others who'd taken heed of the warnings and gotten betrothed last November made the same decision to keep their betrothal contracts in place until such a time as they decided that they wanted something else. Others at the school weren't happy about that, because many of the best and most enticing prospects at Hogwarts were off the market now.

For many, Hogwarts had traditionally been a place to locate and land their future mate as much as a place of learning, so having the majority of the more interesting options now locked into betrothal contracts cramped the style of those who had been after them. Of course, it made the prefects' jobs easier, because the instances of upset girls or bewildered boys who had been lured into broom closets by those intent on nabbing them was considerably reduced. Now what they found there were generally willing participants who were getting the gratification that they'd been after.

Of course, they should have realised that they couldn't put the Ministry's gambit behind them so easily, because Percy Crouch and Ron Fudge apparently believed that the Ministry's idea about them being joined to Penny and Hermione was right and proper, and they were determined to make it come true.

Percy at least was bright enough to get the message and give up after he ended up in the infirmary with a broken arm because an enraged Penny gave up trying to convince him that it was _never_ going to happen and pushed him down a flight of stairs.

Ron however wasn't anywhere near that bright and he kept coming back every time Hermione put him in the Infirmary. Hermione's memories of what he'd done to her in the last cycle meant that she didn't pull her punches, and her development and training this cycle made his injuries quite severe. Madam Pomfrey commented one time that if she didn't stop kicking him so hard down there he'd be sterile before the month was out because he'd already had a ruptured testicle, and while she was a little taken aback when Hermione looked her straight in the eye and said. "Would that be a bad thing? I would have thought the prospect of wiping out the line of Molly Prewett and Cornelius Fudge would be something to be celebrated!" after a while she nodded thoughtfully and said. "Yes, you may have something there actually Lady Granger."

Hermione shook her head. "Madam Pomfrey, I will not stop doing what I must to rebuff Ronald Fudge's unwanted advances until he stops attempting to force his attentions on me. If he dies before he does so, well I don't believe that that would be a loss."

Madam Pomfrey nodded again, "Of course Lady Granger, you have every right to protect yourself against unwanted advances."

They shared a malicious grin as they parted.

* * *

The other development that came in the wake of the Ministry Betrothal Scandal (this was the headline Xeno had used when the affair was reported on the front page of the Daily Prophet the next day) was that Madam Marchbanks quietly gave the voting proxies for the Noble and Ancient House of Marchbanks to Augusta Longbottom. The Clerk of the Court knew about this, as he was the witness when she formally assigned the proxies to Madam Longbottom, but no-one else would know unless they examined the magical records of the Wizengamot voting system, and this was something that very few people had the authority to do.

All most people in the Wizengamot knew was that when Madam Longbottom cast her vote, that vote applied to all votes that she controlled, not that she cast the votes for the Noble and Ancient Houses of Longbottom, Bones, McGonagall and Marchbanks.

This was also why others did not know that Narcissa cast the votes for the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Black as well as the Noble Houses of Granger, Lupin, Vance, Jones and Lovegood.

As it was done publicly, the Wizengamot did know that Andi cast the votes for the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin, but not the fact that she also cast the votes for the Noble and Ancient Houses of Flamel and Bulstrode.

The fact that Arthur cast the votes for the the Noble and Ancient Houses of Prewett and Weasley was known, as was that Max cast the votes for the Noble and Ancient Houses of Greengrass and Davis, and that Alastor cast the vote for the Noble and Ancient House of Moody.

What it came down to was that it was common knowledge that the Potter Alliance was the most powerful faction in the Wizengamot, but most has no idea about quite how powerful it was.


	5. Changes, so Many Changes

**OK, probably should have covered this before but I guess I thought that the same people are reading my stories and therefore would understand my worlds. In _this_ Magical Britain, existing titles can be allocated to another or taken away and houses can be made Noble or lose their status according to this. While women are generally held subservient to men in this world, when the wife is granted a title (eg Andi), the status is applied to the house (Ted would be Lord Tonks but not Baron Tonks). For the most part, these titles are Baron/Baroness or Earl/Countess, as these were what existed when most of the titles were granted. **

**The structure of the Wizengamot and the Aristocracy that rules Magical Britain goes from Noble and Most Ancient (the seven houses which have held their titles since before the Normal Conquest) down. Next is Noble and Ancient, the houses which gained their titles after the Norman Conquest but before Magical Britain was created around 1500, then Noble, houses that gained titles after 1500, Minor, the lesser gentry (baronets and the like), families with no titles or status and foreign houses, which also have no status in the structure of Magical Britain.**

 **There are fifty seats in the Wizengamot because that was how many Noble Houses existed in Magical Britain when it was created, but there are around two hundred titles and another three hundred Baronets, Lairds and the like. In voting, an Earl's title has four votes, a Baron two, and a Baronet, Laird etc one. House seniority also applies, so the votes of a Noble and Most Ancient House are multiplied by two, and one and a half for a Noble and Ancient House. This is all managed by the magic of the Wizengamot voting system.**

 **NB: If anyone's wondering why my stories seem to change over the first hour or so after they go up, it's because I generally spend that hour proof reading and trying to fix the errors I find.**

 **Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

The Ministry Betrothal Scandal marked the beginning of open hostilities between the Potter Alliance and Minister Fudge's faction. It also marked the beginning of Fudge's decline, because it triggered a shift in both the Wizengamot and popular opinion. A number of old Pureblood houses defected from the traditionalist camp to join the neutral factions after the Wizengamot session where the Chief Witch forced them to open their eyes and accept the fact that being Purebloods would not be enough to protect them if Minister Fudge decided that they were in the way of what he wanted.

Xeno took what was a new approach in Magical Britain to sway popular opinion on the matter, he just laid out the facts and offered people the chance to check them, and then decide for themselves what they wanted to believe. The way the usage of the Heritage Protection Act was shown to be in conflict with the actual wording of the Act, the blatant targeting of Fudge's opponents and the obvious intent for those closest to Fudge to take the power and wealth of those being targeted, and the fact that a notable number of traditionalist houses changed sides and voted with the Potter Alliance's camp to abolish the Act when the blatant misuse of the Act was exposed were telling arguments.

The fact that the Wizengamot's demand for the documentation showing why the Heritage Protection Act was activated outside of a time of war and how the houses had been selected to be part of the Ministry betrothal orders was met by nothing more than Minister Fudge's _Assistant_ turning up and trying to order the Wizengamot to support the Minister's actions without question did not show the Minister in a good light either. Xeno had diverged a little at this point to explain that the Ministry was in fact an offshoot of the governing body of Magical Britain, the Wizengamot. He further explained that the Wizengamot had grown out of the Wizards' Council, which in turn was a development of the Druids' Council that had directed and protected the magical people of Britain since before Merlin's time.

Reading a factual account that explained how the Ministry was merely an administrative body that had been formed by the Wizengamot around seventeen hundred to carry out the directions _of_ the Wizengamot, and that the Minister For Magic was in fact selected _by_ the Wizengamot was an eye opener for many people. When they asked their children who were now learning the real History of Magic about this, they were directed to the old and established history books that they in turn had been directed to by their teacher to see the facts themselves. Flourish and Blotts and Tomes and Scrolls did quite a good trade in history books in the weeks that followed the Ministry Betrothal Scandal.

While the majority of people were still blindly following the Ministry, because that was how they had been raised, many were starting to question the motives and actions of the Ministry, now that they were being presented with the facts and told. 'See for yourself.' The question of how the Ministry could believe that it had any right to _order_ the governing body of the wizarding world to shut up and do as it was told was on an increasing number of lips as the people of Magical Britain began to open their eyes.

Just as this was happening, Xeno threw his second kneazle into the chicken coop. The law that Fudge and Dumbledore had pushed through the year before to allow the Ministry to usurp any wills that may exist and seize the assets of a house that lost its last member before they reached their majority had been a well kept secret outside of the Wizengamot and the Ministry, and even there few who hadn't been involved in its creation and being passed into law knew about it.

This meant that when Xeno published the particulars of the second law that the Wizengamot had abolished that day, there was an uproar. Many were quite rightly seeing this as a secret plan to take everything that families that had been laid low by the war had left. Xeno made a point of contrasting this law with the Heritage Protection Act, as they both focussed on houses that only had one living member left. The obvious difference was that the _intent_ of the Heritage Protection Act had been to forcibly save houses that were at risk of dying out, whereas the apparent intent of this law was to finish them off and take whatever they had.

Xeno finished these articles with two open questions for Minister Fudge, given that Albus Dumbledore, the other principal in bringing this law in, was currently unreachable in Azkaban. The first question related to what the purpose and intent of bringing this law in last year had been, given that there were no documents on record which explained this. The second related to the timing of getting this law passed. Why was this law brought in nine years after the war had finished? And was it connected in any way to the fact that the last member of the fabulously wealthy Potter family had been about to come out of hiding for the first time since he'd been spirited away after his parents were murdered?

* * *

The Ministry's response to these final articles was swift and direct, in fact it was the most assertive anyone had ever seen Minister Fudge be. Within an hour of the morning paper going out, a group of Aurors burst into the Daily Prophet's offices and tried to drag Xeno off to some other undisclosed location.

Xeno mirror called Amelia the moment they burst into the offices and she ran to the Auror's office, to find the Head Auror gone. She grabbed Kingsley and a group of trusted Aurors and tried to floo to the Prophet's offices, only to find the floo access blocked. At that they apparated to the front door of the Daily prophet building (as they had implemented permanent anti-apparation wards over the building), just in time to meet Rufus Scrimgeour and a group of Aurors dragging Xeno Lovegood out.

Amelia ordered Scrimgeour and the other Aurors arrested, and to the credit of the Aurors who had come with her, they hardly hesitated before they complied. Xeno happily agreed to be taken into protective custody so they all went back to the Ministry. Scrimgeour and the Aurors were immediately questioned under Veritaserum while Amelia organised an emergency Wizengamot session. So was the witch in the Floo Network Authority office who had locked down the floo connections for the Daily Prophet offices, and her supervisor.

It took Fudge and his cronies a bit to connect the emergency Wizengamot session with Scrimgeour's failure to return with Xeno Lovegood, so the trial was well under way by the time that Fudge burst into the courtroom with Umbridge. Fudge was too shocked and confused to say anything when Madam Marchbanks smiled at him and said. "Oh Minister Fudge! This is fortuitous, we were just going to send someone to ask you and Miss Umbritch to come and answer a few questions."

Fudge couldn't do more than stare at her like the simpleton he was much of the time.

Umbridge was a little quicker on the uptake and she shrieked. "What is the meaning of this? Why are these Ministry officials being questioned while that criminal is free?"

Griselda made a point of looking around the chamber. "What criminal is that Miss Umbritch? The only ones facing criminal charges here are the ones who forcibly kidnapped a law abiding citizen, and their accomplices who illegally locked down the floo connections for that citizen's place of business. Oh yes, there may also be criminal charges against those who gave the orders for these actions, but we haven't gotten that far yet."

With that she directed Amelia to resume the questioning under Veritaserum. When Umbridge ordered them to stop, Griselda signalled the chamber guards, who bound and silenced her again, just as they had during the betrothal hearing.

Fudge tried to tell them that they couldn't do that and demand that she and the others be released, but he shrivelled up when Griselda fixed him with a piercing stare. "Minister Fudge, I strongly recommend that you stop trying to interfere with the proceedings of this trial and take a seat. As I said when you entered, without showing any respect to the governing body of Magical Britain I must add, we were about to call you to answer to your part in these people's actions. If the rest of those being questioned corroborate the first testimonies, you and Miss Umbritch may be facing charges as well, for ordering the illegal kidnapping of a citizen of Magical Britain who has done nothing wrong, let alone illegal. There is also the separate matter of ordering the illegal restriction of the floo connections to the Daily Prophet offices. So once again, I suggest that you sit down and shut up before I legally order you bound and silenced to prevent you interrupting these proceedings any further."

Fudge shut up and meekly followed the directions of the chamber guards after that.

As the Aurors and Floo office witches were questioned, it came out that the person who was the most culpable was Umbridge, because she was the one who had actually told Dawlish, Scrimgeour and the Supervisor of the Floo Network Authority office to lock down the floos for the Daily Prophet and grab Xeno. Because none of the witnesses had actually heard Fudge say any of this, they had nothing that they could actually charge him with. Umbridge, however, was in the hot seat for ordering these crimes.

She testified under Veritaserum that Fudge had wanted the Daily Prophet shut up about this business of the laws that had been abolished and the betrothal issue. While they managed to force Fudge to submit to questioning under Veritaserum and he admitted to saying that however, they were hampered by the fact that they had to play by the rules, so their questions had to be restricted to the matter at hand and they couldn't question him about the background issues, so once he testified under Veritaserum that he hadn't said anything more than that he wanted that damned man shut up, they had to release him from the Veritaserum.

While they couldn't pin anything on Fudge though, they had Umbridge's testimony that she'd orchestrated and given the orders for the crimes, so there was nothing that Fudge could do to protect her. As they knew of many actions that she'd gotten away with in the past by being under Fudge's protection, Harry pushed through Andi for the Wizengamot to give her the most severe sentence they could for her actions here, five years in Azkaban. She was of course terminated from the Ministry and given a lifetime ban from ever holding any position with the Ministry or doing any business with the Ministry. Fudge tried to argue against this until Griselda suggested that they put her under Veritaserum again and ask her everything she'd done for him, he quickly shut up at that.

Scrimgeour, Dawlish, the Supervisor of the Floo Network Authority office and the three Aurors who Dawlish had brought with him were also terminated from the Ministry and given a lifetime ban from ever holding any position with the Ministry or doing any business with the Ministry. This was because they had acted on illegal orders from people who had no authority to give them without first checking with the proper authorities. They had each been put back under Veritaserum and questioned about other times that they had accepted illegal orders this way and there were enough instances to support the lifetime bans for all of them.

Griselda called Amelia forward and quietly told her what Harry had said about wanting to get Scrimgeour out of that office and the Ministry, and his recommendation of Kingsley as the best man for a trusted position of that nature. Amelia looked thoughtful as she quietly thanked Griselda and went to have a word with Kingsley, after which she went back to the prosecutor's table and addressed the bench. "Madam Chief Witch, may I raise a matter which needs to be addressed in a timely manner?"

"Of course Madam Bones, please proceed."

"Thank you Ma'am. The dismissal of Rufus Scrimgeour as the Head Auror has left a critical hole in my Department. The Head Auror plays a critical role in the most important activities of my department and leaving this office vacant would therefore negatively impact our operations. I therefore request permission to promote Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt to the position of Head Auror, effective immediately, so that he can take over the role and manage our Aurors."

Griselda nodded. "This appears a prudent action. Minister Fudge, do you have any comment on this proposal?"

"What? No, I mean that Mister Shacklebolt is a fine Auror and I am sure he will be a credit to the position and the Department."

"Thank you Minister Fudge. I hereby call for a vote on whether to approve Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt to the position of Head Auror."

The vote was almost unanimous, as there was no-one else in position to challenge Shacklebolt and his reputation was well known. Not to mention that going against it would raise questions about the agendas of anyone who did. Griselda congratulated Kingsley on his new role and gave him a vote of confidence that he would uphold the requirements of the role capably, and with honour. The look that Scrimgeour gave Kingsley as he was escorted from the room promised that they would be having words at some later date, but Kingsley just smiled at him, he'd been friendly to the man, but they were hardly friends as he wasn't part of Scrimgeour's inner circle so he didn't really care what the man thought.

Dawlish and two of the other Aurors were taken away and it was flagged that Umbridge would most probably be brought back for further questioning as a result of what had come up in their responses to their questioning. What had come out appeared to indicate involvement in far more serious crimes than the morning's kidnapping attempt.

The other Aurors and the witch who actually locked down the Daily Prophet's floos were allowed to return to work after they testified under Veritaserum that they had received their orders from their direct superiors and that they had never accepted any orders of this nature from anyone outside their line of command. They were sanctioned for failing to question the dubious nature of their orders, but that didn't go further than a notation on their records.

Fudge proved yet again that he wasn't the sharpest, because he tried to tell Griselda that they had no right to mandate Ministry processes when the Wizengamot officially ordered that from now on, orders to Department of Magical Law Enforcement personnel could _**only**_ come from the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Any orders received for DMLE operations from any other parties, up to and including the Minister for Magic and the Chief Witch or Wizard of the Wizengamot, were forbidden to be actioned and _**must**_ be reported to the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement _**immediately**_.

They also mandated that, due to the demonstrated criminal nature of the activities that could be carried out via the Floo Network Authority, this office was hereby to be transferred into the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and moved to the Level Two with the rest of the DMLE. The personnel in the office would thereafter be bound by the same controls as applied to the rest of the department.

When Fudge spoke up, he was forcibly reminded that the Ministry of Magic was an administrative body of the Wizengamot, and therefore it _was_ under their authority. He was further reminded that the illegal orders of that morning had came out of _his_ office, and therefore he would do well to avoid doing anything which may prompt a full investigation into _all_ orders that had come out of his office. He started sweating as he remembered that as the Wizengamot had put him into this position, they could just as easily remove him from it. At that he agreed that they were quite right, and apologised for momentarily forgetting that the Wizengamot's duties included oversight of the Ministry of Magic.

It was a cowed Cornelius Fudge who shuffled back to his office once the Wizengamot session finished. Things had been bad enough when those damned articles had come out this morning, but it was so much worse now! He'd lost Delores, Madam Smith in the Floo office, Scrimgeour, Dawlish, and the rest of the people who he'd relied on to do what had to be done. If they got much out of Delores, Dawlish and the others he'd be finished, but thanks to that order that had automatically gone out to everyone in the DMLE as soon as it was passed, none of the people he had left in there would do anything to shut them up. He just knew from the look Lovegood gave him before he left that there would be another front page article in the Daily Prophet about this morning's activities too.

Kingsley waited for Harry to come down from his box and put his hand on his shoulder, quietly saying. "I hear that I have you to thank for my promotion Harry."

Harry shook his head as he answered. "No Kingsley, everyone knows that you're the right man for the job."

Kingsley laughed quietly. "That's debatable, but what _I_ know is that Madam Marchbanks told the boss that you told her two nights ago that you wanted Scrimgeour out and that you would be trying to convince her to put me in the job when he was gone because we needed someone who could be trusted in that role. I think you might have to stop arguing against being a seer Harry, because once again, _exactly_ what you said has come to pass."

Harry grinned at him. "Maybe that's because I just said what everybody knows?"

Kingsley laughed again. "I don't think so Harry, but thanks."

* * *

The family all departed separately, but they met up at Black House for a celebration of the fact that they had managed to do something about Umbridge, Scrimgeour, the Floo office and Dawlish and his bent Auror mates so quickly.

When they got there, Amelia pulled Harry aside and quietly asked. "So, how many of those problems you told us about in my Department still exist Harry?"

Harry looked at her and quietly said. "In your department? I can only think of the way the Improper Use of magic office targets Muggleborn students Ma'am, but there are plenty of other problems in the Ministry yet."

She smiled sadly at him. "We can't fix everything at once Harry. Thanks to your and Hermione's help though, I think we've done more in four months than was done in the last few decades. We're making a difference, and that because of you to a large degree."

Amelia stopped and cast a privacy spell over them. "Griselda also mentioned that you also had _a_ _nother_ very good suggestion for a major position down the track, but she said that I'd have to ask you about that one. Would you care to share that with me?"

Harry looked at Madam Marchbanks, but she was looking totally unrepentant as she returned his gaze. He turned back to Amelia. "Arthur, for Minister."

That made Amelia gasp, but after her initial shock she looked thoughtful. "Yes, I can see why Griselda was so excited about that one. I think I understand, but could you explain the 'down the track' comment please?"

"From this time and the last, _I_ know that Arthur has the intelligence, integrity and conviction to lead Magical Britain in the direction it needs to go better than anyone else in the Ministry, except you perhaps but I think I agree with you that you're better where you are. The problem is that while most people's impressions of Arthur are changing, they haven't forgotten the ineffectual joke they all saw him as while he was under Molly's potions and Dumbledore's compulsions yet. That's why the more they see of the real Arthur, the man who sired the men that Bill and Charlie grew into and the twins are growing into, the better chance he will have of being accepted as the leader he can be. The other side of this was that we needed to get the people of Magical Britain to see Fudge for what he really is and accept the need to get rid of him, but that part's going rather well because of Xeno's articles. That's pretty much what I was thinking."

Amelia shook her head as she looked at him. "No matter how many times we're told otherwise, we keep thinking of you and Hermione as children Harry, but then you come out with something like this and remind us of how wrong we are to do that. Did I actually tell you that I didn't want the Minister's job?"

"No, but you turned it down when they wanted you to run for it and Sirius and Remus had told me before that that you weren't the type for that job."

She picked up on his upset as he said that. "What do you mean _before_ Harry? Weren't they there when Fudge was kicked out?"

He glanced over at where Sirius was talking and said quietly, with his voice catching. "Remus was around at that time, but not talking to anyone, and Sirius was gone. He hadn't been taking Bellatrix Lestrange seriously enough when he was fighting her in the Department of Mysteries and he was thrown through the Veil of Death by a curse that she got past his defences in ninety six, just before Fudge was kicked out."

Amelia instinctively stepped forward to embrace him, wondering how many other despairs these two were hiding from the rest of them. She asked quietly. "How many of us died last time Harry?"

His voice was muffled by her robes but she could still hear him. "Most, Cedric was killed in ninety five by Wormtail because Voldemort told him to 'get rid of the spare' when he came with me to the graveyard where they did that ritual to give Voldemort another body. Then Sirius in ninety six, and you and Emmeline were killed not long after him. In ninety seven it was Alastor and Hedwig. In ninety eight it was Ted and Dobby, then Fred, and Remus and Dora. They had a little boy, Teddy, I was his godfather. You and Alastor were apparently killed by Voldemort, but the rest were killed by his Death Eaters. Hermione lost her parents too because she erased their memories of her and sent them to Australia to keep them safe from the Death Eaters. And in the end we lost everything because we were used up and killed for Dumbledore and Molly Weasley's plans."

She pushed him back to make him look at her, and they both had tears streaming down their faces as she said. "You two can't carry this yourselves! You have to let us share the load! But you know that you've prevented those deaths, you've stopped Voldemort and his Death Eaters and you've stopped Dumbledore and Molly Bloody Weasley as well. _**You**_! The two of you have come back and changed the world!"

The others could see them crying and came over to see what was wrong.

Amelia cancelled the privacy charms and shook her head at the questions. "Harry was telling me some of the things that happened to him, they were pretty awful."

She looked at Hermione and said quietly. "Look after him, but let us help you."

Hermione nodded, as she had a good idea of what they had been talking about from the way the two of them were reacting.

* * *

A few of them others asked Harry and Amelia what was going on, but they changed the subject whenever someone asked. When Harry and Hermione disappeared, leaving a note to say that they had gone back to Hogwarts, Amelia stopped the others going after them, instead telling them what Harry had told her.

She only left out the part about Remus and Dora having a child, partly because Narcissa was with Remus this time around and they were a good match, and partly because she was sure that Remus as he was now would be horrified at the idea having that type of relationship with a young girl who was little more than half his age and the daughter of his friends.

Amelia asked Harry and Hermione about Remus and Dora at a later date, and they explained how they had believed that Tonks had probably been a much harder character than Dora because she'd been used by men after she joined the Aurors. If that was the case, the idea of having sex with older wizards was probably something that she had had to get used to by the time she met Remus again nearly five years later in the last cycle and he was most likely a more attractive option than most wizards she'd been with. Amelia thought that that was as heartbreaking as hearing about the deaths that had been weighing on Harry and Hermione's consciences.

She also made a note to have Kingsley look into what was going on at the Auror Academy and on the job to make sure that young witches weren't being pressured into having sex with older wizards, or ones their own age for that matter. Hopefully they'd got rid of the worst of those types with the Death Eater and Voldemort supporter purge…. Then she thought about Dawlish and the other Aurors she'd gotten rid of with him and realised that they were probably the type to push young witches to have sex with them as well.

When Harry and Hermione got back to Hogwarts, they just crawled into bed and held each other. Alastor came back soon after them and told the others the gist of what had happened, making sure that Luna knew her father was fine, and told them to leave Harry and Hermione alone, saying that they'd come out when they were ready.

That night, in an attempt to get what Harry had told her about who had died off her mind, Amelia discussed what she'd gotten out of him before that with Arthur. At first Arthur argued against the idea, but she wore him down, using Harry's arguments and raising other points as well to show that it wasn't a silly idea at all, in fact it was a damned good one! When he had finally come around to accept that there may be some merit to the idea, they discussed some things that he could so to build up his image as Harry had suggested. By the time they finished, Arthur was starting to warm up to the idea.

At Amelia's suggestion, Arthur talked to Bill and Charlie about it and they were quite enthusiastic as well. One thing that Bill mentioned though that they agreed with was a valid point was that with this plan, it would be a good idea to keep their betrothal a secret for now. Neither of them wanted to cancel the betrothal, because they were enjoying exploring the idea of a life together, but knowledge of his betrothal to the Director of the DMLE would give the opposition ammunition to use against him if he campaigned for the Minister's position.

For that matter, the idea of having the Chief Witch, Minister for Magic, Director of the DMLE and Head Auror all in one camp would probably cause many in the Wizengamot to oppose him. So long as Arthur's link to Amelia wasn't known by them though, his connections to Griselda and Kingsley wouldn't be either, because she was the one who was known to have connections to the Chief Witch and the Head Auror, not him.

* * *

The students were still forging through their classes, but Harry and Hermione tended to study separately and generally only attended the tutoring sessions to keep up enough practical work to stay ahead of the rest of them. Most of their time was taken up with training with the Goblins, Alastor, or Tommy and Missy, and taking care of the business of their houses, because even with Andi and Cissi handling the Wizengamot and other external issues for them, managing seven houses between them took up a fair bit of time. Luckily the rest of them, including Dora, looked on the edge that they had over them as a challenge, and they therefore stretched themselves to try and catch up. This helped the other students keep up the pace of their learning.

There was another concern that was weighing on Hermione, her parents. She'd given them a viable excuse for why she couldn't come home for Christmas, saying that magic was harder than she'd expected so she had to put extra time in if she wanted to challenge the ones who'd been learning magic since they were little kids, but she couldn't see any way to make that work for the summer break. She was also worried about what their reaction was going to be when they saw her, so worried that she was considering staying under a glamour for the entire break. That wasn't her biggest problem though, _that_ was the fact that the thought of being separated from Harry for two months or more was making her physically ill.

At first she had thought that she and Harry were communicating with each other like they did with their familiars by using their links through the familiars, but she realised pretty quickly that that wasn't it. No, they were _directly_ connected. In fact, all the signs were pointing at something that she'd discounted as nothing more than a silly girls' fairy tale up until now, a soul bond. If she put aside her disbelief in fairy tales it made sense, neither she or Harry could get a good night's sleep unless they were sleeping together, only they could comfort each other when they were upset, being apart for more than a few three hours made both of them uncomfortable, and when they were together they boosted each other.

Harry had always been powerful, even before his family magics had removed the bindings that had been placed on his magic as an infant on the way to Hogwarts, he had been as powerful as most adults because his magic had been working almost non-stop for most of the ten years before he came to Hogwarts to heal the damage that was being done to him day in, day out by his 'loving family' while they were supposedly raising him. Because Dumbledore had placed bindings on his magic to reduce him to pretty much a squib, his magic had been constantly straining to heal him.

As they were taught though, the more magic is used, the more the user's capacity for magic grows, so what his 'loving family' had actually been doing by constantly abusing him had in fact been making him ever more powerful. When he accepted his titles as Head of House and his family magics were activated, those bindings had been stripped from him, so his capacity for magic increased many-fold and he was filled with magic. Ever since them, Harry had been pushing himself and continuing to grow his magic, and building his physical strength as well.

Hermione hadn't suffered the same abuse as Harry, but the constant bullying she had received from other children and being kept at a distance by her busy parents (even more so after she was proclaimed a witch because they couldn't understand that or work out how to relate to her) meant that her magic had stayed active as it kept trying to create a world where she could be safe and happy, so it had been building steadily for most of her life as well. When she accepted _her_ family magics on the train, her capacity for magic was expanded, and like Harry, she had been pushing herself ever since, so it just kept growing.

But that was what they could do individually, one day they happened to cast a spell together and the results were astounding, because it was as if their magic had been multiplied by each other's instead of being added to each other's. They'd tested this numerous times since then and it had always had the same effect. They weren't sure what they could do with this phenomenon but there was no question that it was something of great power.

* * *

Hermione's fears about what would happen at the end of the school year were always on her mind, because she couldn't be separated from Harry, that was sure to have disastrous effects on both of them, but there was no way for them to be together if she went home to her parents. Even if she managed to get them to agree for Harry to stay with them though, there was no way that they'd _ever_ let their twelve year old daughter have a boy sleeping in her bed, as that would offend their sense of propriety.

Her parents were very attached to their image of being successful, respectable, professional people, so they would never allow anything which might threaten that image, not even in the privacy of their own home! This had been best shown by the fact that out of the spiel that Professor McGonagall had given them when she came to their house, the part that they latched onto with relief was the bit about the fact that Hermione would not be allowed to practice any magic at home, because that meant that Hermione would not be able to do anything to let anyone that she was a witch and tarnish their image. No, she loved her parents, but she couldn't see any way that going home to her parents for the summer break could work for her, for them.

They also had Millie to worry about, because when she moved into the tower after the rape that they rescued her from, she was having nightmares nearly every night. The only thing that had stopped them was when Hermione and Harry let her share their bed. They were only expecting the nightmares to last a while and then she'd be OK, but it turned out that the nightmares weren't so much about the rape as what her father had been tormenting her with ever since she had been old enough to understand what he was talking about.

Her father had taken great delight in telling her what the men he was going to marry her off to would do to her in great detail, and that was what she saw whenever she tried to get to sleep, which invariably resulted in nightmares. This was why she had done whatever she could to make herself fat and unappealing, in hope that no-one would want her so that they wouldn't do those things to her. The sad thing was that the actual rape hadn't been as bad as the images that her father had put in her mind.

What they'd found though was that when she shared the bed with Hermione and Harry, she didn't have nightmares, because she felt safe and comfortable. That was why they'd come to a mutual agreement for the three of them to keep sleeping together. They didn't know whether Millie would be comfortable sleeping with Harry without Hermione, and none of them were really comfortable with the idea anyway, so that was another reason for Hermione not to spend the summer at her parents.

They _could_ just tell her parents that she wasn't coming home, but that would almost certainly ruin her relationship with them, and she didn't want that. Minerva suggested that she could just tell Hermione's parents that she'd misled them, because once she joined the world of magic she wasn't coming back, not until she finished school anyway, but Hermione didn't want to upset them that way.

The solution that Hermione ended up agreeing to was a variation of the story she gave them at Christmas, mixed with what they were actually doing. Hermione was going to use the argument that she couldn't stop practising magic if she wanted to progress her studies, and as she couldn't do magic at home, that meant that coming home would stop her from progressing.

The variation on the theme that she was using was that she was going to share with them that Professor McGonagall, who was the Headmistress now, had agreed for her to join a fast track plan to allow her to compress her studies into fewer years so that she could finish her magical education earlier and wouldn't have to go back to the school. If she was to achieve this though, she couldn't take any breaks, she had to keep studying and practising her magic, and that was why she was going to Harry's Manor with a group of other students who were on the same fast track program for the summer. The witches and wizards running the program had said that they could bring her to see her parents on day visits, but she couldn't take breaks any longer than that without sabotaging her progression. She was fairly sure that she could sell them on that without too much trouble, especially with 'Auntie Minnie's assistance.

Hagrid surprised most who knew that he'd been cleared of the false charges and reinstated to take up his education again, because even with the bindings that Dumbledore had placed on him, it appeared that he'd managed to learn quite a lot over the years, and by the end of February, he'd caught up to Penny so he was looking set to do his OWLs at the end of the school year, which would have him working on his NEWTs for the next year, and maybe start working on his mastery in Care of Magical Creatures as well.

Having a proper, compatible wand made for him right after they got him cleared had shown even bigger results than Neville's new wand had, because the makeshift wand that he'd created out of the core from his own snapped wand and an umbrella had never really worked. It had been more of a placebo than a real wand, just something to try and force his magic through because he believed that he needed a wand to do magic.

* * *

While they were working on their education, most of the rest of the family in Britain were working in the political arena. Andi and Cissi played the Wizengamot like puppets, with the masterfully understated assistance of Augusta and Max, and support from the others. Harry and Hermione also attended sessions where they could so that they could fill the others in when they caught something that they'd seen in the last cycle. They were using Arthur to present their points where possible in an attempt to make the other Wizengamot members listen to him and start taking him seriously.

The traditionalist camp had become more desperate when a notable number of them defected after the revelations of the Wizengamot session for the Ministry Betrothal Scandal, but their efforts were often more amusing than worrying, at least they were when they were taking their lead from Fudge anyway because he actually believed that he held influence over the Wizengamot, all evidence to the contrary. While there weren't many major issues handled in this period, they did manage to stop some big ones.

What was probably their biggest triumph was when they got Umbridge, Dawlish and the other two ex-Aurors sent to Azkaban for life for the assassinations of Fudge's opponents that Umbridge had ordered, and Dawlish and the others had carried out. While they couldn't pin anything on Fudge for assassinations, the fact that they were done by those in his inner circle to get rid of his opposition ensured that he was tarred with the same brush in the eyes of many in the Wizengamot. It wasn't the fact that it was done, as this was part and parcel of their politics, it was the fact that he was stupid enough to trust people who were so incompetent that they got themselves _caught_ that he was derided for. What made it so good though was that there was a positive reaction when Arthur called for a review of any laws that Umbridge had supported in the Wizengamot.

Harry and Hermione had a good idea of what Umbridge had been supporting, and sure enough what was dug up was a slew of questionable and rather vicious anti-muggle, half-breed and 'creature' laws that only the most fanatical Purebloods would have supported, though when Arthur was presenting these to the Wizengamot he made a point of commenting (as directed) that Umbridge was in fact a rather magically weak Half-blood, the daughter of a near squib and a muggle. This was enough to have the traditional Purebloods who had supported the amendments to these laws scrabble to distance themselves from them. They may have agreed with the sentiment at the time but there was no way that they would allow themselves to be associated with anything that was supported by something like _that_!

As a result of this, they managed to get nearly every law that Delores Umbridge had sponsored or supported abolished. The only one who argued against this was Amos Diggory, but this was more of a personal fight for him because he was determined that they had confounded his son to take him away from his family. Griselda was so amused by the altercation that broke out between Diggory and Kumar Patil after Diggory shouted that his son had been trapped into a betrothal with lewd witches of dubious blood and morals that she waved the chamber guards back and let them go.

* * *

The official Ministry representatives who were summoned to acknowledge on behalf of the Ministry that these laws had been abolished and that the instructions and practices of the Ministry in regard to any of these laws were to be _immediately_ altered in accordance with this did not appreciate being required to make a formal oath that they would ensure that the Wizengamot's instructions were carried out. They were also dreading having to tell the Minister that the Wizengamot had _instructed_ this.

As people who were doing Fudge's bidding, they probably weren't bright enough to understand that giving them direct instructions like this was specifically intended to make Fudge fly off in a rage and do something stupid. The Potter Alliance would have liked nothing better than to have Fudge come storming into the chamber and tell the Wizengamot that they couldn't tell the Ministry that they had to change all of their processes just because some inconsequential laws had been changed, let alone that they had to do it _immediately_ , because this would have been a rather large nail in the coffin of Fudge's hopes of hanging onto his position as the Minister for Magic.

Unfortunately, whoever was controlling Fudge had apparently managed to hold him until he'd calmed down, because he didn't turn up to protest the instructions, and when they checked the next day, the rules and instructions had indeed been amended to comply with the new rules. Of course, having those rules in place wasn't enough to make the personnel in the relevant departments act on them, so the Wizengamot started making 'spot checks' of those departments at least two or three times a week.

There was no system in the Ministry of Magic to enforce the behaviour of its personnel, so they implemented one via the Wizengamot. They passed the laws to authorise 'Wizengamot Inspectors' to review Ministry operations and ensure that they were complying with all the necessary rules. When the Ministry personnel refused to do as instructed, the Wizengamot Inspectors were authorised to dismiss them, after two warnings had been given.

* * *

Using this, they started removing the hard liners before the first week was out, and when Fudge and his department heads started complaining that they had to get them back because they didn't have the personnel to cover the workload, Arthur had his opportunity to make a proposal. This proposal couldn't have worked without the Ministry whining that they did not have enough qualified Pureblood people to do the job, so the set up was perfect. As soon as they said that, Arthur had his opening to produce piles of applications from better qualified Half-blood and Muggleborn witches and wizards who had been rejected purely because they weren't Purebloods.

Griselda pretended that this was the first time she'd seen this and asked the Ministry representatives why these better qualified people hadn't been given the jobs that the old or ineffectual Purebloods had been holding down. When they tried to say that those other applicants hadn't been qualified for the positions they applied for, Griselda demanded that _all_ of the applications be brought in for comparison.

With the evidence to prove that Ministry hires were purely made on the basis of blood status, the Ministry's arguments were quickly shot down, and Arthur proposed a new law that applicants to enter the Ministry and for promotions _must_ be judged on qualifications alone, and blood status _must_ be ignored in any applications. Between the Potter Alliance's influence and Arthur's rising status, that law was passed by quite a majority. As soon as it was passed, Fudge was summoned to the chamber to be informed that this would take effect _immediately_ , and that the Wizengamot Inspectors would be monitoring all hiring and promotions proceedings until such a time as they were satisfied that the new rules were being complied with. It was obvious that Fudge wanted to rail against this, but someone obviously had him on a short leash because he held his tongue.

Within a month, the Ministry numbers were up, and most of the new hires were Half-Bloods or Muggleborns. It took Fudge and his cronies a while to discover that Amelia had authorised Kingsley to accept Auror applicants without a NEWT in Potions and add NEWT level Potions classes to the Auror Academy syllabus to allow them to meet the Auror entry requirements and rectify the Severus Snape's sabotage while he was Hogwart's Potions Master. When Fudge tried to take Amelia to task for this, she went toe to toe with him, saying that the reason that they had had so few Auror applicants was that a marked Death Eater had been allowed to deliberately sabotage the training and scores for students other than those in Slytherin, and then made the minimum score to be accepted for the NEWT level potions classes 'Outstanding'. Therefore, all they were doing, now that they had the funding to do so, was offering applicants a chance to gain their NEWT in potions while at the Auror Academy. Fudge backed down at that because his handlers signalled him to.

* * *

Questions that the new Ministry hires had been primed to ask of the Wizengamot Inspectors also led to the Wizengamot reviewing the structure of the Ministry of Magic. The traditionalists found that they couldn't come up with any plausible responses as to why the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was a separate department, rather than part of the DMLE, when the incidents that they dealt with _all_ came out of activities of the DMLE...

A more volatile question was why the liaison offices for magical beings such as Goblins and Centaurs and the Office of Misinformation, which dealt with liaising with the _Muggle_ world on incidents that were too big to cover up, were all part of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical _Creatures_? Surely these, along with the Beings Division, anything to do with Centaurs, Merpeople or werewolves, and the Muggle Liaison Office as well for that matter, should be in their own department that was dedicated to the important matter of liaisons with other beings?

They also asked what in Merlin's name the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department was for, seeing as there were already departments for International Magical Co-operation and Magical Sports and Games.

When the Ministry was called to answer these questions, they couldn't. They tried to wave off the issues to do with the impact that bad relations with the Goblins or the Muggles could have on Magical Britain, until Wizengamot members started pointing out a few facts, like what would happen to Magical Britain if they suddenly had no money, which the _Goblins_ controlled, or what did they think would happen if the Muggles got pissed off with the wizarding world and decided to do something about it with their _**three hundred thousand**_ equivalents of Aurors or Hit Wizards?

Many denied that such a figure could be possible, so Alastor signalled the wizard who'd been keyed up to show pictures of the Soviet military might displays that they had liked to put on at the height of their power. Some of the Muggleborn and half-Blood witches and wizards recognised when and where the pictures were actually from, but they just smiled to themselves, because the images of Muggle soldiers as far as the eye could see, and rank upon rank of tanks and planes were certainly intimidating, and the Purebloods were staring at those images in shock and horror.

Of course, some still muttered that it was just Muggles, they could be handled easily enough, and Alastor smiled grimly as he stood and started heading down to the floor of the chamber, shooting a look over his shoulder to confirm that Sirius was coming too. Most of those in the chamber were looking in confusion at the strange walking stick Alastor was using, but those who knew anything about the Muggle military started grinning, because it was the British Army's L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, the SLR. These were currently being phased out in favour of the shorter and lighter SA80, but parts of the Army were still using them, and many of the serious soldiers preferred the SLR as a more accurate and hard hitting weapon.

Once they got down to the floor of the chamber, Alastor had Sirius conjure dozen stone plinths and erect wards around them, then turned to call out. "Who can cast the strongest blasting hexes here?"

When there was no response, he prodded at their pride. "Come on laddies, this is your chance to impress the ladies with your prowess. Are none of you sure enough of your ability to come down here and help us with a demonstration?"

As expected, that got half a dozen wizards who fancied themselves as powerful to come down.

When Sirius had erected wards to protect the spectators and cast a protego shield in front of the plinths, Alastor told the wizards to do their best to destroy the plinths. After fifteen to twenty minutes, the exhausted wizards gave up, and none of the plinths had more than a few chunks knocked off of them.

Alastor sent them back to their seats and while he had Sirius renewing the protego charm he held up the rifle he'd been been using as a walking stick. "This is an older version of what all those Muggles were carrying. Some of the Muggle Army are still using these but they're all being replaced by something newer and better."

With that, he put the rifle to his shoulder and emptied the magazine into the plinths in less than a minute. When he was done, there was no more than a stump left of any of the plinths and he turned to face the assembled witches and wizards. "That is just what one man can do, their military machinery can do _this_!"

He nodded to the wizard again and he displayed images of towns and cities being obliterated by bombs, artillery barrages and missile attacks. When it was done, he looked around and went on.

"If we try to take on the Muggles, we will be wiped out! If we push the Goblins too far, we will have to go back to growing our own food and hope that the things we have will last until someone comes along to fix the situation for us. It's safe to say that if someone _**does**_ have to come in and fix our mess for us, we'll lose just about everything. We can't afford to piss off the Muggles _**or**_ the Goblins, and anyone who thinks we can is a fool. The Ministry needs to get its head out of its arse and accept what those young witches and wizards are saying as the plain, simple truth and _**act on it**_ _ **now**_ , because if they bring our world down because they're too stubborn to accept the truth, well they better hope that the Goblins or the Muggles find them before I do!"

He started to stomp back up the stairs to his seat, but stopped and turned back. "By the way, you don't want to piss off the Centaurs either, because Centaur arrows can also get through those shields that most of those wizards couldn't!" With that he continued up to his seat.

The chamber was silent as Sirius cancelled the wards he'd erected and vanished the remains of the plinths before heading back to his box on the top tier.

Griselda managed to keep a straight face as she thanked Alastor for an illuminating display and then addressed Fudge. "Minister Fudge, I do not believe that anyone can question the points that Lord Moody has made here. Do you now accept the need to restructure those parts of the Ministry to properly address the matters that were raised by the people who have recently joined the Ministry and had the benefit of looking at the issues with fresh eyes?"

Fudge was mainly concentrating on how he was going to come out of this without him or his remaining supporters losing too much. "Well yes, of course I must agree that we will need to look into the matter and come up with a viable plan to amend the structure of some or our Departments over time..."

Alastor heaved himself to his feet. "Did you not hear anything Fudge? You need to make these changes and you need to make them _**now**_! Any fool can see you have the answers right in front of you….Laddie, put up yon suggestions that were received."

When the pages were displayed, he went on. " _ **There!**_ Move the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes into the DMLE. Pare down the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to just governing Magical Beasts like it obviously should be by nature of it's damned name and find a suitable home for the Goblin, Centaur and Muggle Liaison offices, the Beings Division, anything to do with Centaurs, Merpeople or werewolves and the Office of Misinformation that will show due respect to all of them that we can't afford to piss off. What is that damned Foreign Affairs and Sports Department anyway?"

Fudge hemmed and hawed for a bit and then admitted. "It was created at Barty Crouch's suggestion as a vehicle to bring international sporting events to Magical Britain…."

"That's obviously a complete damned waste of Ministry time and funds! As the laddies and lassies pointed out, we already have departments for International Magical Co-operation and Magical Sports and Games that are meant to do that! Foreign Affairs Department is a well known title that the Muggles and Goblins will recognise and accept for handling liaisons with their nations though, so cut the name down to Foreign Affairs Department and move all those liaison and other offices in there, then put someone who won't piss off the Muggles, Goblins or Centaurs in charge of it….."

Fudge cut in. "Yes, yes, I have just the wizard for the job, Amos Dig..."

"Lord Arthur Weasley!"

"What?"

"You need to clean your ears out Fudge, I just said someone who _won't_ piss off the Muggles and Goblins. Arthur Weasley is the only department head in the Ministry who can deal with the people who will be liaising with this department without offending them, and his noble rank is high enough to ensure that they won't be insulted. Amos Bloody Diggory cannot even come into a Wizengamot session without insulting the daughters of a superior house and brawling like a street rat. We can show you memories of that incident if you were not aware of it? So in what world would someone like Diggory be in any way suitable to deal with the people who can destroy our world?"

The others in the Noble and Most Ancient boxes were looking at each other, because none of this had been planned. What they had been intending was to discredit Fudge after he shot down the sensible ideas being presented, but Alastor had rammed the whole thing down their throats and named Arthur to head up what would be the second biggest and most important department in the Ministry, one that could be the perfect vehicle to showcase what he could bring to the Minister's position. That display Alastor put on with the rifle was overwhelming as well, seeing it at an outdoor range at Potter Manor hadn't prepared them for what it would be like in a chamber like this.

Griselda cut in before this escalated. "Thank you for that excellent summary Lord Moody. To move things along, I believe that it would be best to just put these points to the vote. We will be voting on whether the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes should be made part of the DMLE. Whether the Goblin and Centaur Liaison offices, the Beings Division, anything to do with Centaurs, Merpeople or werewolves and the Office of Misinformation should be separated from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Whether the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department should be renamed to the Foreign Affairs Department and used to house the Liaison etc Offices, and whether Lord Arthur Weasley should be selected to head up the new Foreign Affairs Department, with a suitable promotion of course. Oh, and on that subject, I'd like another vote for whether the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures should have a commensurate reduction in grade because his department will now be much smaller and no longer handle the same matters of importance."

She looked around the chamber and saw many nods, so she continued. "So. The vote to move the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes into the DMLE?…. Move the Goblin and Centaur Liaison offices, the Beings Division, anything to do with Centaurs, Merpeople or werewolves and the Office of Misinformation out of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?…...Rename the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department to the Foreign Affairs Department?…. Move the Liaison and other Offices into the new Foreign Affairs Department?'... Lord Weasley to head up the new Foreign Affairs Department?… Promotion for Lord Weasley to reflect the nature of his new duties as Head of the Foreign Affairs Department?….. Demotion for the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures because his department will be smaller and no longer deal with matters of importance?"

Each vote passed with a very strong majority, because most of those voting were still shaken by the display that Alastor had put on. Fudge was fuming, because first and foremost, he wanted to destroy Moody for treating him like that, but quite aside from him being protected by the power of the Bloody Potter Alliance, he didn't have anyone loyal to him who'd stand a chance against the old bastard. On top of that, he was being ignored and forced to make major changes to his Ministry without any input from his own people in the Ministry…..No, that wasn't quite true, because for those changes to be voted in with _that_ much of a majority, most of the people at the Ministry who held Wizengamot seats must have voted for this as well. He just wished he could find out who had voted against him so he could punish the traitors!

There was nothing he could do now but set people to making the damned changes, and find someone to tell Eustace that he had just lost much of his department, including all of the important parts, and he was therefore being demoted and moved with what he had left to another floor, because he certainly wouldn't to be doing _that_ himself.


	6. Arthur On The Rise, and Unavoidable Even

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

Arthur was certainly unpopular with Fudge and his cronies, as not only had he deposed one of Fudge's loyal lapdogs to take charge of the new Foreign Affairs Department, he had also taken the best parts of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and kicked its head, Eustace Brockworth, downstairs to some dingy offices with the dregs of his department.

The first day, Arthur addressed the personnel of his department and told them that a) that _he_ was responsible for anything that happened in his department, so he was implementing the same rule as the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Any and _all_ orders in Foreign Affairs would come from him, and him only. He was the _only_ one who would accept any instructions from outside the department and if he found that anyone in his department had accepted any orders that didn't come through him, at the very least they would be dismissed. and b) they had to read and comply with _all_ of his rules or they would be dismissed.

He could see that the entrenched ones who had come from Magical Creatures had no intention of complying, so he called for the records of what had been done by their teams over the past few years and started firing the trouble makers on the basis of what they had done, or because they hadn't done anything. This of course had him immediately called to Fudge's office, where he was told that he was not allowed to fire the established people who had been moved into his department. Arthur started throwing files on Fudge's desk, files that showed activities that would have been judged criminal if they were investigated by the DMLE and evidence that some of them had sat at their desks and done absolutely nothing for years.

Fudge argued that he was misrepresenting the facts so he said. "Why don't we see what the DMLE has to say about that Minister?" and before Fudge could stop him, he had floo called Madam Bones and asked if he and the Minister could get her opinion on a few things. Amelia came through straight away and asked what they'd like her opinion on and before Fudge could say anything, Arthur handed her the files.

In nearly every case, Amelia ruled that the activities described, boasted of in many instances, had construed criminal acts and asked why her department had never been advised of these actions before. Fudge tried to argue that these Ministry officials had just been doing their jobs and there was nothing criminal involved here. She just looked at him for a while before she answered.

"I am beginning to understand the poor judgement that you displayed in the illegal arrest and incarceration of Lord Black now Minister Fudge. It appears that I will have to pay close attention to the education of the personnel that I have acquired from the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes as it would appear that the understanding of what construes legal and illegal behaviour in that department is rather lacking. I can assure you that every one of _these_ incidents would have resulted in criminal charges if they had come to the DMLE. Therefore, I will be reviewing _all_ the records for Lord Weasley's department and take any I deem merit it to trial, all of these merit going to trial on the basis of what was recorded. These witches and wizards are not fit to represent the Ministry of Magic, and many of them belong in Azkaban."

She turned to Arthur. "I am sorry Lord Weasley, but it appears that you will be losing a good percentage of your new staff."

Arthur waved that away. "Please don't apologise Madam Bones, I was just trying to explain to the Minister why I was dismissing these people, because apparently some of them went to their old head of department when they were advised that they were being dismissed, along with those ones who do not appear to have worked a day in their lives."

Amelia nodded. "Well it is a relief to know that I have not given you any disturbing news. I am in fact having similar problems with some of the people that the DMLE has just acquired, though I hadn't thought to review their prior activities, it would appear that I will be required to do that as a matter of priority now…. If these are anything to go by, there is a good chance I'll have to be taking many of my own people to trial as well."

She turned back to Fudge. "I presume that you no longer have any objections to Lord Weasley and myself weeding out the bad apples in what we have acquired from other departments in the Ministry, Minister Fudge?"

Fudge wasn't at all pleased with how this had gone, Weasley was supposed to have accepted that he would not be firing anyone who had been transferred into his department and that he would do exactly what he was told from here on in. _Now_ it was looking like a strong possibility that the majority of the ones who had been transferred from Creatures and Accidents would be fired, if not sent to Azkaban. "I'm not happy about this Amelia, not happy at all! I insist on having the final word on any dismissals from either of your departments!"

She looked him in the eye. "I, and I'm sure Lord Weasley, will certainly discuss the dismissal of any personnel that we deem unsuitable for our departments Minister. Excluding, of course, those who must go to trial for illegal activities, there can of course be no argument against getting _them_ out of the Ministry! For the others however, you cannot expect our other personnel to cover the workloads of these people as well as their own. Therefore, if you oppose them being dismissed from the Ministry we will, of course, expect you to facilitate their transfer to some other department so that we can replace them and get the necessary work done in our departments."

Arthur leant forward. "That appears quite fair Minister, if you do not wish those people out of the ministry, I am sure you can find a quiet office in another department for them. Do not forget that our two departments will be under the eyes of the Wizengamot Inspectors after the changes, and I am sure that the Ministry wouldn't want them making reports about Ministry officials who sit around doing nothing all day, would it?"

Fudge's eyes were just about popping out of his head, eventually he managed to get control of himself enough to bark. "I want to see the full files with proper justification for anyone you want out of your departments and there better be good reasons for every one of them! Now get out, I don't have time to waste with you!"

Arthur gathered up the files, asking Fudge for the ones he was trying to hide, and then left the office with Amelia. Fudge was too aggravated to notice that Amelia had left via the door rather than returning to her office via the floo. It was a struggle, but they both managed to keep straight faces until they were in the lift. Amelia signalled Arthur to come to her office to talk, and as soon as they were inside and safe from prying eyes she kissed him, because he'd just given her a way to get rid of most of the dregs she'd been saddled with too.

* * *

She and Arthur called for some food to be sent in and went through the files for the activities of the Creatures and Accidents departments together. The vast majority of the files were flagged for criminal trials, and there were also quite a number where the evidence showed that they didn't do anything. Less than a quarter of the ones transferred to the two departments had records that appeared good enough to keep them on.

Seeing this, Amelia decided to do a proper review of the rest of the DMLE. She was reasonably confident that most of the Aurors were worth keeping now, but she hadn't looked closely into most of the other areas, maybe it was time to do so. Considering the background Fudge had had with the Hit Wizards, that would probably be a good place to start.

Arthur was confident enough of the outcome of the trials of the ones they'd selected that he put the word out for people to replace most of the personnel in his department, then he and Amelia went back to Fudge with the files for the ones who weren't doing anything. Fudge tried to bluster but in the end he gave in and arranged to move them all to other departments because Amelia waved the Ministry rule book under his nose, specifically the page where it said that department heads had the authority to dismiss any personnel who did not perform well enough to meet their requirements, and hire replacements for them. When Fudge tried to argue that Arthur was too new to have that authority though, he saw a different side to Arthur Weasley.

"Are you trying to apply different rules to me than what apply to every other department head in the Ministry Minister? Show me the regulation that gives you that authority, or better yet, show the Wizengamot! The Wizengamot voted almost unanimously to put me in charge of the new department to manage Magical Britain's interfaces with the Muggles and other magical breeds. I have identified personnel who were transferred into my department who are refusing to work, and their records show that they have not made any significant effort in some time. I also find it interesting that quite a number of them were transferred into the groups that were coming under my control just before I took them over by the way, so I will be calling for a formal investigation into _that_! This meant that the groups I took over were also top heavy with senior officials who had little knowledge of the groups that they were in, and if I was a suspicious man I'd believe that someone had been making a concerted effort to ensure that the Foreign Affairs Department failed. But that is neither here nor there…."

He shook the files in his hand at Fudge. " _ **These**_ people will be out of my department by the end of the day, and out of the Ministry as well unless you find other placements for them before I terminate them. I should probably thank whoever it was who decided to pad my department with all of these senior people who won't do anything actually, because it will be easier to hire in properly qualified people to replace them at those pay rates. It would be rather stupid for anyone to try and downgrade any of the pay rates for their positions once we get rid of them, because the Wizengamot Inspectors would be on that like a terrier on a rat!"

That was when Fudge realised that Arthur Weasley was going to be a very big thorn in his side, and that they'd actually played into his hands by filling up the ranks of his groups with those old fools who could hardly stay awake through the day. He conceded defeat and quietly arranged to move them into other departments (at a lower wage, he added to himself). The smile on Arthur's face as made his goodbyes made it very hard for Fudge to remain civil until they had left his office.

* * *

It didn't take Amelia long to arrange trials for the large pile of charges that they'd put together on the basis of what the personnel in their departments had admitted to in their reports. They were all questioned under Veritaserum in front of a Wizengamot trial board and charged. Some went to Azkaban, but the majority of them were let off with fines or warnings because it turned out that many of them had actually exaggerated their actions in their reports. _All_ of them were dismissed and banned from ever working for or doing business with the Ministry ever again though.

Most of Arthur's new hires were Muggleborn or Half-Bloods, and they were considerably more qualified and motivated than the Purebloods they replaced. Those Purebloods who did remain in the department were a different breed to most in the Ministry, and they were happily working with the new hires towards making the vision that Arthur had for the department come to life.

The general public of Magical Britain began to see the benefits of the new arrangements within a few months of Arthur taking charge of Foreign Affairs, because changes negotiated between Foreign Affairs and the Goblin Nation meant that the money that they had sitting in Gringotts could actually _earn_ money. Xeno put articles in the Prophet to explain that this was something done in the Muggle world called _investments_ and _interest_ , but most people didn't care about that. Much of the wizarding world flocked to Gringotts to see what they had to do to start earning this _interest_ on the money which had up until now just sat in their vaults doing nothing until they needed it. Xeno made a point of reporting that this had all come about from the initiatives that Lord Weasley, the head of the new Foreign Affairs Department, had negotiated with the Goblins.

After she had looked into them, Amelia scrapped the Hit Wizards (most of them went to trial for their illegal actions, but some were allowed to retrain to qualify as Aurors), replacing them with a bigger intake of Aurors, as she had additional funds now and the far more qualified and capable Aurors weren't paid that much more than the Hit Wizards had been anyway. From what they found out, the main reason the Hit Wizards Office had been created was that most traditional Purebloods couldn't meet the minimum requirements to qualify to become Aurors.

One of the first things Arthur handed over to the DMLE was the open cases from the Werewolf Capture Unit, because he'd fired everyone in the unit when he reviewed what they'd been doing. Both he and Amelia were furious that they had been supposed to be looking for monsters like Fenir Greyback for decades but they hadn't done a bloody thing. If they'd tracked down and stopped Greyback back when they first got the case, Remus and countless others would have been spared all that pain and suffering, not to mention the ones who had been killed when they turned.

The Aurors and the Investigation Office weren't busy, and tracking down rogue werewolves was something they could get their teeth into. Amelia contracted Remus in to assist with the investigation and capture of the rogue werewolves, though he may have done it for free if she'd told him that their top target was Greyback, because Greyback had been the one who turned him when he was a small child.

* * *

While Arthur and Amelia were having fun turning the Ministry upside down, Harry, Hermione and the others were turning wizarding education on its head. Harry and Hermione were joining Penny and Hagrid doing their OWLs, but they were both doing all twelve possible subjects. Penny was doing eleven (skipping Care of Magical Creatures) while Hagrid was doing nine (skipping Arithmancy, Muggle World Studies and Magical World Studies). The other thirteen were all set for their third year end of year exams too.

They all got through their exams fine, and Professor McGonagall helped Hermione convince her parents that she needed to stay with her fellow students and work on the fast track program over summer. They should have realised then that things were going too well.

* * *

The first indication that their worlds were colliding again came when they arrived at Potter Manor for the summer. Sirius had been rather put out when Harry and Hermione's reactions to his proud announcement that he had made all the arrangements for them all to attend the Quidditch World Cup in style in six week's time, because they both looked horrified.

It wasn't until they heard the young couple whispering furiously at each other about how this wasn't supposed to have happened for another two years that the others worked out what was going on. The others managed to get them to settle down enough to explain that this had happened at the start of their Fourth Year last time, and the World Cup had been part of the setup to bring the Triwizard Tournament back.

When that was met with blank looks, they explained that the Triwizard Tournament had been a competition between the major magical schools of Europe that had been run for five hundred years until it was banned two hundred years ago because too many competitors, and spectators too, were being maimed or killed in every tournament. In the last Tournament, a dragon had gone on a rampage and killed the competitors, the judges and quite a number of the spectators. That was the final straw and the Tournament had been banned from that point on.

What they couldn't understand though was who was behind bringing it back this time? Last time Dumbledore and Barty Crouch Senior had been behind the machinations to bring it back, using Ludo Bagman as a willing patsy. Voldemort had been involved as well, using Barty Crouch Junior, polyjuiced as Alastor, to set Harry up to ensure he was brought to the graveyard for his revival ritual at the end of the Tournament. (The adults understood why Harry glanced at Cedric at that point, but none of the other students picked up on it.) But Dumbledore and Barty Senior were in Azkaban and Voldemort and Barty Junior were dead, so who had organised it this time, or would it just be the World Cup this time because of the changes they'd made?

Getting back to the matter at hand, Hermione mentioned that last time there had been a fairly major Death Eater attack after the World Cup match had finished. They had burnt many of the tents, abused and terrorised the muggle family who owned the land that the stadium and camp ground were on and Barty Junior had cast the Dark Mark. If that happened again, that would indicate that either there were people who wanted to get the Death Eaters started again, or someone who wanted to convince the wizarding community that there were.

She smirked then as she turned to the twins. "And if you two make a bet with Ludo Bagman again, just know he pays in leprechaun gold when he loses!"

Hermione suddenly sobered and pointed out that events seemed to be repeating themselves, no matter what changes they made. After all, she and Harry had stayed well away from Ron and Ginny, and Percy hadn't had a chance yet to get to know Penny, let alone make her his girlfriend this time around, but the three of them had still been paired up with them in those Ministry's betrothal contracts. That was why she and Harry didn't think the World Cup coming to England was a coincidence, and that the Tournament would happen as well.

* * *

They quickly decided that they were still going to the World Cup, because most of them were looking forward to it and they couldn't do anything to stop what happened if they weren't there. Amelia started making arrangements to have a good number of Aurors on-site, and to quietly bring in what other Aurors and Trainee Aurors she had by port key the moment anything happened. Everyone who knew ahead of time was made to give an oath of secrecy, so that no-one else would find out that they were ready for something to happen. She also made arrangements to have a team of Goblin ward experts on-site to erect anti-apparation wards over the entire area as soon as something happened, to prevent the so-called Death Eaters escaping. If this happened as Hermione said, she was planning to have some very interesting discussions with these so-called Death Eaters.

She didn't have any fear that the 'children' would let anything slip, because their occlumency skills were better than most adults'. In fact, between the training they'd done in this life and the last and their family magics, she'd put money on the fact that Harry and Hermione were as good as Albus Dumbledore had been at his best, if not better.

While the students were moving forward with their lessons (working through the summer break as well was part of what they'd agreed to), those who hadn't gone through their animagus transformations with Harry, Hermione and the others were working on them now.

Amelia and Arthur tried to find out who had organised the World Cup and whether they had anything else in the works. They discovered that Martin Abbot, Sue's friend Hannah's father, had taken over as the Head of the Department for International Magical Co-operation when Delores Umbridge went to Azkaban. He and Ludo Bagman, who was still the Head of the Department for Magical Sports and Games this time around, had indeed brought the World Cup to Britain, so that hadn't changed much.

There were also rumours that they'd pulled off something else that would cause a sensation, which made it sound like the Triwizard Tournament was indeed coming to Hogwarts. They contacted Minerva when Harry and Hermione first mentioned the Tournament, but she hadn't heard anything from the Ministry about it, so it appeared that the Ministry was playing games, but that was no great surprise.

By the time the World Cup came around, the students had all successfully completed their first animagus transformations. The big surprise was Millie's animal form, because it was a Mngwa like Harry and Hermione's. That led to a bit of speculation about what the relationship between the three was. The rest were more normal, Katie's was a kite, Neville, Sue and Luna's were all owls, Padma's was a Dhole, Tracey's was an African Wild Dog, Daphne's was a wolf, and Astoria's was a Golden Jackal. They were all a long way from mastering their transformations of course, but they'd gotten through their first transformations fine.

* * *

Sirius and Remus arrived at the World Cup camp ground first to set up the tents, one for the boys, one for the girls, and one for the adults. They had trunks in all the tents, to use the trunk floos as well as provide private living quarters for some of them. Once the tents were set up, they all came in via the trunk floos, except for Narcissa and Draco, and Madam Hooch, Padma and Parvati. _They_ port keyed in like the other spectators because they still weren't a hundred percent sure of Draco, and Madam Hooch and Parvati weren't privy to their secrets (they had invited Madam Hooch to join them because she was just as Quidditch mad as Minerva was).

The students wandered about the fair picking up merchandise like any other kids, though they were accompanied by the adults and shadowed by the goblin guards, because Gringott and Ulfr wouldn't allow Harry and Hermione to attend something like this without being properly protected, and Andi, Alastor and Sirius agreed with them. They were amused to see that the British fans were only a small fraction of the people here, and had to laugh about how clueless most British were about what was being said around them by the foreign visitors.

Harry and Hermione were discussing this as they listened to the comments about the British, because they could understand most of what was being said. They had to agree with much of what was said about the British, because Magical Britain was a minor power nowadays, but while most British were arrogant enough to demand that others speak English when dealing with them, they conveniently 'forgot' this when they were insulting their foreign visitors, just saying that they didn't realise that they spoke English if anyone was offended by their comments.

Harry had used his metamorphmagus talent to change his appearance and Hermione was using glamours to do the same, to ensure that no-one recognised them. They were taken as foreigners by the British and visitors alike because they were speaking to the visitors in their own languages. This meant that they had several altercations with British boys who were making lewd comments about Hermione. It was rather disappointing to see that much less than half of the parents who stepped in to stop these altercations made any attempt to chastise their sons for their unacceptable behaviour.

* * *

When they went up to their boxes in the stadium for the match, Sirius had a hard time stopping himself from laughing out loud at the expressions of the Ministry people as they took in the fact that the boxes that he had reserved for the family and their friends were easily three times bigger than the Ministry box. Harry and Hermione were happy that Winky wasn't there, because she'd been terrified last time, being forced come this far up to babysit Barty Junior in the Ministry box.

Harry had to hide his amusement on the outrage on Fudge and Martin Abbot's faces when the French Deputy Minister of Magic brought his family over to introduce them to Arthur, as they'd met when Arthur was talking to the French about matters of protocol with other magical beings. Louis Delacour had taken an interest in Arthur's attitude to people of other breeds, because his wife and daughters were all Veela, and they suffered considerable prejudice against them because of that. This was why he wanted to introduce them to a man who didn't appear to show any prejudice at all.

The introductions became quite spirited when Arthur introduced them to the famous Harry Potter, because the Delacours' youngest daughter, the ten year old Gabrielle, had developed quite a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived from all of the stories that had been made up about him. Gabrielle was quite crestfallen when Harry gently told her that those stories were all lies, but no less charmed by him.

Apolline and the soon to be sixteen year old Fleur Delacour were paying more attention to something else about these people they were being introduced to, the men and boys in particular, because none of them were fawning over them or leering or pawing at them like most men did, including those in the Ministry box. Being Veela, they could see the strength of the link that Harry had to the girl beside him, and to a lesser degree the other girl who stayed close to them, but _none_ of these men and boys had been turned into drooling idiots by the Veela allure like most men were.

As a protective husband and father, Louis had noted this as well, and he quietly asked Arthur about it.

Arthur replied just as quietly. "It's training mostly Louis, many of us dealt with a lot in the last war, some are Aurors, Alastor is the most famous Auror we've had, and because of the type of threats they will quite likely have to face, we've made sure that all of _our_ children are trained and practised in occlumency. They've also received Auror training including throwing off the imperius curse, so they can resist your wife and daughter's allure better than most. We have a few others with us who don't have the same training, but Draco's father was a Death Eater and he had his own style of training in these things."

"Incredible! Do you think your party would mind if my family and I joined you Arthur? I have not seen my wife and daughters this comfortable in a group of people before, and they certainly aren't comfortable with the way they were being treated in the Ministry box."

"I'm sure that we will be happy to have you Louis. These boxes are Sirius's, so I'll just ask him."

Louis nodded gratefully. "Certainement."

Arthur stepped away for a moment, and Sirius came back with him. "We'd _love_ to have your family join us Louis! The more the merrier, that's why I reserved a bit more space than we needed."

Louis clasped his hands and bowed his head in gratitude. "Merci Comte Black! Now if you would excuse me, politics demand that I let my previous host know that my wife and daughters have found friends over here and wish to stay, so as I cannot deny them anything we will be spending the rest of our time over here."

Arthur stopped him before he left. "Louis, if there are any other requests to join us, particularly from my ex-wife's children, could you tell them that there's no room as we're waiting for other guests please?"

Louis looked over at the Ministry box. "Your ex-wife's children?"

Arthur nodded to them. "The two red headed boys and the red headed girl."

The look on Louis's face said that he wanted to ask how his ex-wife had other children in the same age ranges as his sons here, but he was too polite, so he just said. "Certainement." and went to tell Apolline that they were staying here before he went to give his apologies to Fudge.

When the Bulgarian Veela mascots put on their show before the start of the Quidditch match, they watched the display being put on by the men and boys in the Ministry box with a mixture of amusement and disgust. Apolline and Fleur in particular were distressed to see the way those men looked at the Veelas because at least half of the mascots were related to them, second, third or fourth cousins.

While this was going on, Arthur gave Louis a brief account of the fact that just under a year ago, it had been uncovered that three of the seven children who were supposedly his had in fact been sired by other wizards while his wife was married to him. It was also discovered that she and someone he had trusted had been keeping him under their control with potions and compulsion charms ever since he met her at Hogwarts. His wife and her accomplice had been tried and sentenced to Azkaban and the other wizards's children were cast out of his family and taken in by their real fathers, as that was what they wanted. When Louis looked over at the Ministry box and asked whether Minister Fudge had been one of those wizards, Arthur just nodded grimly and Louis apologised for being so indelicate, but Arthur just waved it away.

While they were talking, Arthur also suggested that Louis and his family come to their camp after the match, because they had heard rumours that there would be a disturbance afterwards. Looking down at the Veela mascots, he suggested that they be invited along as well, as the people who were thought to be behind the expected disturbance were the type who would be likely to target Veela. He assured him that they could provide safe escort for them.

Louis snorted at that. "Yes, we have seen that, in fact Apolline has asked why you have goblins of _that_ calibre in your party."

Arthur smiled grimly. "They are primarily here for the protection of Harry and Hermione but they protect all of us, and we have some other quite formidable fighters in our group as well. Your family will be safer with us than anyone else Louis."

"I do not doubt this Arthur, and gratefully accept your offer. Now if you will excuse me, I will get Apolline to send a message to try and get her cousins to join us."

He left at Arthur's nod.

* * *

When he saw Fred and George getting excited about how the match was going, Arthur asked them if they had ignored Hermione's warning about making a bet with Ludo Bagman?

They both shook their heads with a grin, but it was George who answered. "No Dad, We didn't ignore Hermione, we took precautions, we've got a sure way of detecting leprechaun gold and Hermione gave us five thousand galleons to bet with him. If it doesn't pay off, she'll let us work it off over time, but if it does, we'll pay her back her investment and half of the winnings and we'll use the rest to start that joke shop we want."

Arthur looked at them suspiciously. "Just how much are these winnings supposed to come to, if _half_ will give you enough money to start a shop?"

"At the thirty six to one odds he gave us for Viktor Krum catching the snitch, but Ireland winning the match, a hundred and eighty thousand galleons."

He frowned at them. "We'll be talking about this if you win boys, you can be sure about that!"

He went straight to Hermione after that. "What's this I hear about you giving my sons the money to cheat Ludo Bagman young lady?"

Hermione smiled at him, totally unrepentant. "For a start Arthur, I didn't give them the money, I invested it with the expectation that it will pay off like it did last time. And we aren't cheating Bagman, I didn't tell them what the bet was, but the twins have made the same bet they did last time and just like last time, Bagman was so sure he couldn't lose that he jumped at taking it. The odds are just over half what they got from him last time, but the bet's nearly ten times as much, so that's to be expected."

She paused and turned more serious. "Bagman's been cheating people for a long time Arthur, and he has made a fortune from it. Amelia agrees that it is quite fitting for the twins and I to profit from helping bring him to justice, and she'll be there with some Magical Law Enforcement Patrol officers to arrest Bagman when the twins prove that he tried to pay them in leprechaun gold. The goblins have confirmed that he should have enough real gold in his vaults to pay any bets that he has taken here, so people will get the money they're due and Bagman will pay for cheating people out of their winnings."

Hearing that Amelia was on-board with this did quite a bit to allay Arthur's fears, but he was still a little uncomfortable with his sons being involved in something like this.

The match was quite exciting, and the result was exactly what Fred and George had bet on, so they went looking for Bagman to collect as soon as the match was over. When the test proved that he had indeed tried to pay them off in leprechaun gold, Amelia and the officers removed the glamours they had been hiding under and told Bagman that if he didn't have enough real gold to cover the bets he'd taken he'd be under arrest. Luckily for Bagman, he'd taken enough bets that he could pay the twins the hundred and eighty five thousand galleons he owed them, but Amelia left one of the officers there to make a record of what needed to go to whom if he couldn't cover the rest of the bets he'd taken.

* * *

There was quite a party heading back to their campsite, because all of the Veela mascots had jumped at the chance to come along when Apolline's cousins got the note from her to say that they may be in danger if what was expected to happen did and that they'd been offered protection in one of the camps. They were all put under glamours, half of them as men, so their group didn't look too different from the other groups heading back to their tents.

The Irish fans were already getting rowdy with their celebrations, so they breathed a sigh of relief once they were inside the tent. The first ones inside caught Sirius casting the expansion charms to make the tent big enough for all of them and were quite impressed, because they knew how hard doing that on the fly was.

The veela were nervous about being in one room with well over a dozen men, even if half of them were young, but Apolline calmed their fears, speaking to them in Bulgarian. " _Do not worry, all of these wizards have enough control to resist the Veela allure!_ "

Some of the other Veela weren't inclined to believe that. " _Do you really expect us to believe that every one of these_ _ **British**_ _wizards could control themselves if we relaxed the control over our allure_ _Auntie_ _?_ "

It was Harry who answered that, in fluent, almost flawless, Bulgarian. " _Believe or do not believe, but do **not** insult my friends and family! Madame Delacour and her daughters have been in our company all night and I do not believe that they have been given any reason to feel uncomfortable with us..._ "

Apolline and Fleur interjected with emphatic " ** _Non!_** "s at that.

Harry inclined his head to them gratefully as he continued. " _We have reason to believe that there will be a disturbance here tonight and that the people behind it are not likely to be wizards that you would enjoy interacting with, but if you do not feel comfortable staying here with us, we will not detain you, you are free to go._ "

Some of the Veelas looked as though they may do that, but Apolline barked. " _Sophia! Do not go out there! Your mother would never forgive me if I let you leave and you got hurt. You are safe here with these wizards, you_ _would_ _ **not**_ _be_ _safe with the type that they believe are out there!_ "

That settled the matter, because Madame Apolline was well respected in the Veela community, so if she forbade her cousin's daughter from leaving because of the danger and said that they were safe here, they were staying where they were. The fact that they knew goblins well enough to recognise the ones here as elite warriors added to that sense of security.

They called for the house elves to bring food and drink and they settled down to a nice evening, until about an hour after they reached the tents. When they heard the unmistakeable sounds of mayhem, Harry popped out of the tent using elf magic to check, popping back in ten seconds later to tell Amelia that it had started. Amelia mirror called Kingsley to bring the Aurors and then called the goblins to erect the anti-apparation wards. As arranged, the better fighters of the adults ran out to help keep the trouble makers engaged until Kingsley and the rest of the Aurors arrived. Louis and his French Auror escorts went with them, citing a duty to protect French visitors out there.

A few of the group headed for where the dark mark had been cast from last time, in case anyone tried to do so again. If they did, it could be a chance to capture a Death Eater who was from Voldemort's inner circle, because they had been the only ones that Voldemort had taught how to cast the Dark Mark. If they could get their hands on one of _them,_ they could hopefully get leads on others who were left.

Everything went to plan, the so-called Death Eaters tried to escape when they suddenly started falling to a strong and very skilled opposition, but found that they couldn't apparate away and that confused them enough for most to be quickly dropped. As soon as they had all been stunned and their wands taken away, they were quickly secured in magic suppressing manacles and bound.

Meanwhile, someone _did_ turn up where they were waiting for the Dark Mark's caster and tried to cast it, but it failed to form properly because he was stunned senseless before it had completely left his wand. He too had his wand taken and was secured in magic suppressing manacles and bound.

As soon as the 'Death Eaters' had been captured, Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus transformed into their animagus forms and searched the area for traces of others who had tried to run away. They tracked down and captured four more that way. They didn't know how many they'd missed, but they didn't think there were many. In the end, they had captured eighteen bogus Death Eaters and one very real one.

The muggle family who had been subjected to the disgusting attentions of the 'Death Eaters' were taken to St Mungo's to be healed, and to carefully erase or alter the memories of that night in hope that they would be able to forget and live their lives in peace afterwards.

* * *

The problem they had with these fake 'Death Eaters' was that whoever was behind them was playing for keeps, because only a few of them had really known anything, and they'd apparently been made to take binding oaths not to reveal anything. Two of them had died under questioning before they caught onto what was happening and stopped the questioning. Luckily the actual Death Eater hadn't been one of the ones who had died, so they were handling him very carefully and trying to work out how to get the information out of him without killing him.

The rest of them were tried, given a partial dementor's kiss (leaving just enough for them to stay alive) and sent to Azkaban. Amelia made sure that Xeno reported that what happened to the wizards who had faked the Death Eater attack and brutalised that Muggle family would happen to anyone else caught doing anything similar.

Fudge called her to his office and told her that she couldn't do that sort of thing to wizards just because they went a little too far with some Muggles, but Amelia reminded him of what Alastor had demonstrated in the Wizengamot and asked him what he thought would happen when the Muggles determined that it was wizards who were doing this to their people?

Amelia looked him in the eye and said. "I am not prepared to take the chance of Magical Britain being obliterated just because some sick bastards think that they can do whatever they want to Muggles. Therefore, I am going to make sure that they _all_ know that if they do this, we _will_ catch them, and they _will_ suffer a fate worse than death. The healers tell us that they should be less susceptible to the dementors in this state, so they should be able to last much longer in Azkaban. As soon as we have some evidence to support that, I intend to have _that_ reported in the Daily Prophet too."

By now Fudge had decided that he didn't care about giving her a dressing down any more, he just wanted her out of his office because she was terrifying him!

When Fudge reported this meeting to Marcus Somerset, his Senior Undersecretary and his interface to the one who's orders he was following now (Somerset had had taken over the Department of International Magical Co-operation from Barty Crouch when he was sent to Azkaban, and then the Senior Undersecretary's position when Delores Umbridge had been sent to Azkaban, so there was an obvious theme there), he was informed that the one in charge wasn't happy with how he'd handled this, but to keep his head down and try not to do anything else as stupid as what he'd done so far, or there would be serious repercussions. He was also told to make sure Ludo Bagman got that message as well, because if Bagman screwed up his part of the next stage of the plan, he would be wishing that he was in the position of those wizards in Azkaban.

* * *

Two weeks before the new school year started, Minerva called to let them know that Fudge, Somerset, Abbot and Bagman had just visited her to tell her about their great achievement, that they had managed to get the Triwizard Tournament reinstated and it was going to be hosted at Hogwarts this school year!

Minerva mentioned that they appeared to have been prepared for her to tell them that she would not ignore her duty to protect her students by allowing Hogwarts to be involved in something so senselessly dangerous, let alone host the event, because Somerset had been telling Fudge how to respond. She'd been presented with a very convincing argument to show that she wouldn't be allowed to refuse to host the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts without being hounded out of Magical Britain as the witch who had wilfully destroyed Magical Britain's only real chance of regaining the reputation of a strong and true nation in the magical world.

They comforted Minerva and made her accept that she hadn't had any choice but to capitulate, but they initiated the plans that they'd been working on ever since they first saw the signs that this could happen. None of them really believed that Harry had any chance of staying out of the Tournament, even with the _real_ restrictions that Minerva would undoubtedly be ensuring were in place to prevent anyone under the age of majority from entering their names into the contest…..

That was another thing that matched the last time, the officials had been forced to officially agree to alter the magical and other rules to _only_ allow participants in the Tournament who had reached their majority. Unfortunately, what only the officials knew was that the figure for the age of majority would actually be fed into the goblet of fire by one of the officials, Martin Abbot in fact. (This was one change, as the Tournament was being controlled by the Heads of the Department of International Magical Co-operation of the countries of the three schools this time).

The three school Heads had been led to believe that the goblet of fire had been charmed to automatically use the real age of majority for each of their countries (sixteen for France and Bulgaria, and seventeen for Britain), but Abbot had in fact convinced the other officials that this had been too difficult to do, so he would just put in sixteen for everyone. He had no intention of using sixteen though.

* * *

As soon as they had confirmation that the Tournament was on, Arthur, Harry and Hermione asked for the Goblins' assistance to get them into France to visit the Delacours. Once they were there, they told them the truth about Harry and Hermione and how they knew things that they couldn't by any normal logic. Then they got to the reason for telling them this, that last time they went through this, Fleur had been selected as the Champion for Beauxbatons and because of this both she and Gabrielle had been in great danger. They had taken Harry's penseive with them and they used that to show Louis, Apolline and Fleur Harry and Hermione's memories of what had happened in the three tasks, begging them to keep Fleur out of the Tournament.

Louis was in tears when he told them that he could not, because when he had said that to the Minister of Magic as soon as he was told about the Tournament coming back, he was told that he would not be allowed to send a message like that to their people. Sending other children to compete in this tournament but keeping his own daughter out of it because it was too dangerous? Scandaleux! He was told that if he tried to dishonour the Ministry like that, he would not only be thrown out of the Ministry, his entire family would be thrown out of France!

As they'd watched Harry and Hermione's memories of the Tournament, Louis and Apolline had both gone white, and Louis declared that Gabrielle would not be setting foot in Britain until this damned Tournament was finished. While it was understood that there was no guarantee that the tasks would be the same this time around, Fleur decided that she would start training to be able to handle what she had seen immediately.

* * *

At that point, Arthur brought up another issue. He went over the history that they all knew, that the Veela had deserted Britain two hundred years ago to put a stop to their being forced into marrying wizards who wanted to use them as sexual slaves or as a display of their power. Then he told them that seeing the Bulgarian Veela mascots at the World Cup had apparently reignited the British wizards' desire for Veela, and that Madam Bones' Aurors and Officers had discovered that while the supposed Death Eater attack was going on, a group of wizards had raided the tents that had been set up for the Veela with the apparent intent of capturing them and spiriting them away. That led them to the unfortunate conclusion that if Fleur had to come to Britain without her family to protect her, there was a very real risk that wizards would try to 'obtain' her, because the ways to lock a Veela into a wizard's control were still well documented.

The thought of that horrified Louis, Apolline and Fleur, all the more so because they realised that what Arthur was saying was a very real possibility. Arthur explained what the family had done to protect themselves last year, describing the clauses that they had put in to ensure that they would be long term prospects, and asked whether Fleur had any friends or the family had any allies who had sons who could be legally betrothed to Fleur to give her a level of protection from this?

Fleur shook her head at that, saying that she did not have any male friends because the boys at Beauxbatons couldn't be near her without drooling and/or making advances at her, and Louis added that none of the families that the Delacour family was allied to would be willing to lock their heirs into a betrothal contact that would continue the Delacour line, but not their own.

Arthur explained the caveat that allowed both male and female line continuance contacts between a couple in Britain and asked whether that existed in France but Louis shook his head, when Arthur mentioned that it had been brought in during the Goblin Rebellions he nodded. "Aha! That is why, we understood that we could not afford to anger the Goblins, so we never allowed things to progress to that stage."

That didn't do anything to fix the problem though and they were getting more and more morose, until Harry suddenly said. "What about me?"

Hermione looked at him. "Harry Love, all twelve betrothal contracts that you are allowed are already filled, you can't get betrothed to anyone else..."

Apolline broke in with " _ **Twelve?**_ " and Hermione nodded and said matter of factually. "Oui. Harry is the Head of four Noble and Most Ancient Houses and Heir to another, and Heir to a Noble and Ancient House as well. Using both the male and female line options on each of his houses makes twelve. But eight of those contracts are with me and two are with Millie, the last two are with Daphne and Astoria so there's only four girls involved."

Apolline shook her head at that but Harry had started speaking. "Yes Love, but we've only used the _**British**_ branch of the House of Flamel so far. I'm the heir to the _**entire**_ House of Flamel, so I believe that that means that the French side of the House of Flamel could presumably be used as well?"

He looked at Louis, who leapt up and raced to the fireplace. He quickly floo called one of his most trusted aides, and came back smiling. "Oui. Our records confirm this Henri, you are officially listed as the heir to the Noblesse Ancienne, that would be Noble and Ancient in English, House of Flamel. Your house actually ranks above the Delacours Henri, as your title as Comte dates back nearly a thousand years. Would you truly be prepared to do this for our daughters Henri?"

"Yes, of course…. Wait, daughters? I thought that we were trying to work out something to protect Fleur when she comes to Britain?" He was looking from Louis to Fleur as he spoke.

"Oui, but what I was hoping, if you were willing, that we could do something similar to what I presume you have done with Daphne and Astoria, a female line betrothal contract with Fleur as my Heir and a male line betrothal contract with Gabrielle. This way both of our darlings would have protection against this abominable thing that Arthur has warned us about. Would this be something that would be acceptable to you Henri?"

Harry looked at Hermione, but they were already communicating. He nodded. "Oui. If it will help protect both girls, we will do this. Do you have a solicitor who could do this today?"

Louis looked thoughtful. "The family avocat will come, but I believe that this may need to be registered in the British system if we are to make use of those caveats that allow contracts to be agreed for both the male and female lines. Could your solicitor assist with this perhaps?"

Arthur spoke up then. "Definitely, Ted, you met him at the World Cup, did all of the other contracts for us, we can get him over here in a few minutes." With that he pulled out a communications mirror and called Ted.

While Harry pulled a shrunken trunk out of his pocket and expanded it to full size, Hermione brought up something else. "If you could get your avocat here Louis, he might be able to explain to Ted any French specific aspects that will need to be factored into these contracts, and then you should to get Gabrielle in here and fill her in on what's being discussed, otherwise I expect that she will be quite upset."

Apolline slapped her forehead. "Mon Dieu! How could we forget that? Oui! I must do that post haste!"

Louis floo called the family avocat while Apolline rushed out of the room to get their other daughter.

Apolline was terrified about Arthur's warning, but while the idea of Fleur and Gabrielle having to get betrothed to protect them against these things in Britain rankled, she had to accept that this was the best plan. She was incredibly touched and grateful that Harry would offer to do something like this for her daughters.

Ted arrived via the trunk floo while they were talking, and he explained more about what they'd done to protect everyone in the family against the Ministry using a two hundred year old war legislation to attack them. They were laughing about the fact that these would be Harry's thirteenth and fourteenth Betrothal contracts when the Delcours' family avocat arrived via the floo.

It was a remarkably simple process in the end. Ted used the same template as he'd used for the rest of the contracts, and as Hermione had suggested, the Delacours' avocat supplied the details that would be needed to make them acceptable in the French system. Once the contracts had been signed and sealed in blood, the avocat departed and Ted used the trunk floo to go to Gringotts to officially register the two contracts with the Goblins, coming back with everything legally registered. They'd already had the confirmation though as the betrothal rings had appeared on Fleur and Gabrielle's fingers as soon as the betrothals were registered.

Gabrielle laughed delightedly when she saw the official document that confirmed what the ring said, that she was betrothed to Harry Potter (Well, Henri Flamel, but he was still Harry Potter). She was angry at her mother for reminding her that the purpose of the betrothals was to protect her and Fleur from men who wanted to get control of them because they were Veela, they weren't about some happily ever after fairy tale. The little girl disappeared for a moment when she snapped. "I know that Mama! I know that I will never replace Hermione or Millie as his wife! I was just hoping to be able to enjoy the fantasy that comes from being betrothed to Harry for a little while!" She started crying then, and it was Harry who drew her into his arms and comforted her.

When they were leaving, Fleur looked to Hermione with a mischievous smile for permission, and when she got it, she gave Harry a very heated goodbye kiss. Of course, when Gabi saw that, she demanded a proper kiss from him as well, because the kiss on the head he gave her wasn't a patch on that.

As the Delacours were officially part of the family now, and to make things easier when Fleur arrived at Hogwarts in about six weeks time, they left one of the trunks and some communications mirrors with them and explained how to use them. This made their own return to Britain easier because they just used the trunk floo.

* * *

Percy Crouch showed that he was the same toady in this cycle as he was in the last, because as soon as Professor McGonagall had finished telling the students about the history of the Triwizard Tournament, explaining that it would be restricted to those students who had reached their majority, and pleading with them to consider the risks before they put their names in to compete, he sent an owl to the Ministry to tell them that she was spreading dissent.

As a result of that, the next night she was forced to give Ludo Bagman equal time to extol how wonderful the Tournament would be, and he became almost permanent fixture of the castle a couple of weeks after that, constantly trying to convince the students that this was an opportunity that couldn't be missed. Bagman had obviously been tasked with getting Harry on-side with the Tournament, because whenever he saw him, he came charging up to speak to him. He didn't seem able to understand that the grim faced witches, wizards or goblins and those surprisingly scary cats who prevented him from getting near Harry would _always_ be there.

At least Cedric wouldn't be entering the Tournament this time, as he was under age and away from the ones who had pressured him into putting his name in last time. Harry was fairly certain that most of the Hogwarts entries would be from members of the Quidditch teams, as they'd be looking for another source of fame and glory with the Quidditch Cup being cancelled for the year, and he was also willing to bet that Gryffindor and Slytherin would make up the majority of those, as Gryffindor would be chasing glory and Slytherin would be determined to take it from them.

* * *

The students in their group had dived into the work. They were hoping that it would be easier this year because none of them had more than two years' work to do.

In the NEWTs group though, Harry and Hermione had replaced Arithmancy with Advanced Arithmancy, added Alchemy and Ancient Studies and started working on their masteries in Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence, Arithmancy and Runes. Penny had also started working on her masteries in Charms, Defence and Runes, while Hagrid had started working on his mastery in Care of Magical Creatures.

The other thirteen were all in the OWLs group, and they were doing ten to twelve subjects each.

They were talking to Fleur every day or two, as she didn't have anyone to talk to at Beauxbatons. Her betrothal to the Heir of the Noblesse Ancienne House of Flamel and the heirloom betrothal ring of an Ancient House on her finger caused quite a stir, and it seemed that everyone was trying to find out who this Vicomte Henri Flamel she was betrothed to was. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to stop the suspicious looks or nasty comments from the other girls though, or the boys mooning over her for that matter, so Fleur was looking forward to getting to Hogwarts, where she knew there were people she could enjoy being with.

There had been no surprises when the eligability trials were held at Beauxbatons to determine who would go to represent Beauxbatons at the selection of the Champions on Halloween. Fleur said that it was almost as if the Ministry official had had her name on the list before she had even competed, and she shuddered when Hermione said that that was quite possible, considering what her father had told them. She was beginning to see why Harry and Hermione had such a world weary attitude much of the time, if they kept being forced to relive what they'd gone through last time…. Last time, in the future? This was so hard to understand!


	7. Bonds, Dragons and Contests

**OK, in an attempt to shut up those ridiculous whiners who hopefully no longer read my stories, I hereby give notice that, _somewhere down the track_ , Harry's betrothals _may_ evolve into something that some would call a 'harem' arrangement. This is because of developments that are now coming into the mix from the Veela influence. If this offends you, feel free to stop reading.**

 **Usual disclaimers for the land of litigation, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess Tale.**

By the time they were half way through October, Fleur was getting anxious to leave for Hogwarts, because her well publicised betrothal to Vicomte Flamel had not done much to improve her situation at Beauxbatons. The fact that she was a year younger than the next youngest member of the Beauxbatons prospects going to Hogwarts didn't help either, because all of those who had missed being selected were saying that her father had used his influence to get her onto the list, taking the place away from someone more worthy.

Harry was willing to put money on the fact that Viktor Krum would be the Durmstrang Champion again as well, because there had to be a reason for the fact that he was on the Bulgarian National team two years early at sixteen, and this _just happened_ to coincide with the Triwizard Tournament coming back two years early. They didn't know anything about the Durmstrang prospects, but Harry expected that Krum would be the youngest out of them too.

Given that the evidence seemed to be showing that three of the Champions would be the same as the last time, Harry focused on trying to predict who the fourth Champion, the Hogwarts Champion, would be this time. He still had his money on whoever it was being a Quidditch player from Gryffindor or Slytherin, but there wasn't anyone who stood out as a good candidate. Harry only hoped that it wouldn't be Marcus Flint, as he didn't relish having to spend the year having to deal with a bully like him who had all the qualities of a troll…. On second thought, no, if the Tournament played out like it did last time and the Hogwarts Champion was fated to die again, he'd rather it be Flint than anyone decent.

* * *

The day of the arrival for the other schools came, but it wasn't like last time. Professor McGonagall made a _request_ for Hogwarts students to be outside to welcome the delegations from the other schools, but made it clear that it was their choice. This led to a scene in front of everyone in the Great Hall between her and Martin Abbott, who tried to insist that the staff and students of Hogwarts would _all_ be out there to greet the other schools. Abbott wasn't at all pleased when Minerva just looked him in the eye and said. "Mister Abbott..."

He cut her off. "That's _Lord_ Abbott McGonagall!" which made her storm at him.

"Your family has had a paltry Barony for scarcely a hundred years _**Abbott**_ , you barely scrape in as a Noble House! I, on the other hand, am Countess McGonagall, Head of the Noble and Ancient House of McGonagall and Chieftainess of Clan McGonagall, which dates from time immemorial! If you _**ever**_ speak to me in such a tone again, I will have your paltry house stamped out! I have half a mind to have Baron Moody, the Steward of House McGonagall, deal with the current matter here and now!"

Abbott stepped back at her wrath, paling as he belatedly realised that he didn't have the support of anyone remotely powerful enough to protect the House of Abbott if she did in fact choose to raise the might of Clan McGonagall, and the House of McGonagall, against them. The thought of going up against Mad-Eye Moody terrified him all the more so because _that_ news had been a shock, he had never heard anything about _him_ being associated with the House of McGonagall in any way. He bowed in subjugation and spluttered an apology, desperately hoping that that would be enough to mollify her. "My profound apologies Lady McGonagall. I do not know what got into me!"

She just glared at him for a while, then snapped. "I will let the matter go _this_ time Abbott, but woe betide you if anything like this _**ever**_ happens again! Now, listen carefully because I will not repeat myself! No staff or students of Hogwarts will be _ordered_ to stand out in the cold to wait for the arrival of the other schools. If they choose to do so, they will do so because of their own good character and school pride. While it is obvious that you do not share my confidence that our students will do Hogwarts proud, your opinion is of as little consequence as anything else to do with you."

Hannah Abbott had been looking smug as her father corrected the Headmistress, but now she was looking stricken, because her father had just shown himself to be insignificant, and a coward to boot, in front of everyone. Daddy had assured her that with her help, the House of Abbott would rise to its proper place among the great houses, but that was now looking like nothing but the empty promise of a delusional man.

That worried her, because she started thinking about what might happen to her if it ever came out that she'd helped set Harry Potter up, and suddenly she just wanted to be somewhere well away from Hogwarts. Her father saw her furtively leaving the Great Hall and came after her. Still smarting from his public humiliation, he was harsh as he told her that she better be out there, front and centre, to greet the other schools when they arrived, or she'd pay for her impertinence!

* * *

Fleur mirror called Harry when the Beauxbatons carriage was getting close to Hogwarts, so they were outside waiting for it with most of the school when it arrived. Many wondered how they'd timed it so well, coming out just five minutes before the carriage came into sight.

They had to admit, the Beauxbatons carriage was impressive, if a tad gauche, as it was the size of a cottage and resplendent in powder blue and gold trimmings. The beasts drawing the carriage were equally impressive, a dozen Abraxans, enormous palomino flying horses.

There was no question that the Headmistress of Beauxbatons was trying to make a statement with their arrival, because the enormous carriage came to a stop right in front of the main entrance to Hogwarts. Madame Olympe Maxime was quite impressive herself, because she was Half-Giant like Hagrid. She met her match in Minerva though, because once the French Ministry Official and her students had exited the carriage, Minerva politely but firmly asked her to assist Hogwarts' Keeper of the Keys and Grounds in moving her carriage away from the entrance because the Durmstrang delegation had yet to arrive.

Madame Maxime was surprised that this witch, who was half her height and a quarter her size, actually intimidated her enough to capitulate to her request. She tried to save face, muttering. "Oui. I doubt that your man will be able to handle my Abraxans anyway, they are _very_ powerful. Also, they only drink single malt whiskey, so you must get a supply of that!"

Minerva allowed herself a small smirk as she responded. "I doubt that Mister Hagrid will have any problem with your horses Madame Maxime, I have primarily asked for your assistance to save _them_ the upset of being handled by someone they do not know. And we aware of their requirements, Hagrid has ensured that everything is ready for them."

When Madame Maxime saw Hagrid, she understood Professor McGonagall's confidence, because he was bigger than her, not taller perhaps but definitely bigger. She found as they led the Abraxans away to the area that had been prepared for them, taking the carriage with them, that Mister Hagrid was actually a charming and interesting man, and thought to herself that their time in Britain may prove more enjoyable than she had been expecting.

The Beauxbatons students waited outside the entrance with the Head of the French Department of International Magical Co-operation while their Headmistress took the carriage away, but their attempts to look haughty were being sabotaged by their shivers, because the stylish lightweight robes that had been quite appropriate in the South of France gave them no protection from the cold in Scotland, where there was snow on the ground. Fleur scandalised the rest of the delegation by running up to one of the Hogwarts boys and throwing her arms around him, kissing him and the girls in his group.

When Madame Maxime returned to find the pride of her delegation, the eldest daughter of the Sous-Ministre de la Magie pour la France, wrapped up in the cloak of a Hogwarts student, she had little doubt who he was and went to meet them, addressing Fleur. "Mademoiselle Delacour, I presume from this familiarity that this is your betrothed?"

Once Fleur had disengaged herself, Harry bowed to her Headmistress. "Oui Madame. It is a pleasure to meet you Madame Maxime. I am indeed Mademoiselle Delacour's betrothed, the Vicomte Henri James Flamel, but I am better known by my primary title of Earl Henry James Potter, Harry Potter in common usage."

Olympe was amused, this one may look and sound like a boy, but she had no doubt that he could easily handle powerful witches and wizards several times his age. She bowed to him. "Oui, it is a pleasure to meet you as well Vicomte Flamel, but I presume that you would prefer to be addressed as Lord Potter here?"

Harry gave a very Gallic shrugging nod. "Oui, I am more used to being Harry Potter Madame, but I prefer to be called Harry."

She smiled, accepting him as a worthy player in this game. "Then I will endeavour to address you as 'arry then Lord Potter."

Harry inclined his head to her. "Merci Madame."

* * *

With that, Madame Maxime gathered up her charges and led them into the castle. The Hogwarts students were about to follow them inside when a disturbance out on Black Lake announced the arrival of the Durmstrang delegation. The masts broke the surface first, but the rest of the ship followed so fast that it popped right out of the water. It bobbed up and down for about a minute after splashing back down to the surface, then it was propelled to the shore in front of the castle by magic.

The fourteen figures that strode off the ship were more prepared for the cold than the French students had been, as they looked enormous, bundled up in bulky furs as they were. Harry hadn't been paying attention as they strutted past, so he had to ask why Hermione and Millie were giggling to each other. Hermione leaned in to whisper. "Some of those great shaggy bears were _girls_!"

Harry shook his head as he looked after the Durmstrang group, he couldn't see it but he didn't doubt that the girls were right. He'd learned in this life and the last that the girls were always right, if you knew what was good for you.

They weren't going to wait outside, so as soon as the Durmstrang delegation was through the doors, they headed in after them. When they shed the furs, Harry could see that three or four of the Durmstrang students were indeed girls, but they were no dainty little things, and in fact Viktor Krum was the smallest one from Durmstrang. At least half of the Hogarts students were already indulging in their hero worship of Krum, the youngest member of a National Quidditch team in hundreds of years, and it was obvious that he was lapping it up, so Harry decided to stay away from him.

Minerva welcomed the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations and made a brief announcement that the Tournament would be officially started at the end of the feast, then signalled for the food to be served. Throughout dinner, she made a point of talking to Pomona Sprout, ignoring Abbott who protocol had demanded be seated on the other side of her (all of the School Heads were sitting beside the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation for their country). Abbott had Ludo Bagman sitting on the other side of him if he was desperate for someone to talk to.

The other Beauxbatons students made a point of blocking Fleur whenever she tried to get to the French dishes at the head of the table where they were sitting, and she started to get upset. She stopped herself though and merely stood to leave the table, moving down to sit with Harry, Hermione, Luna, Padma and Penny. She was prepared to take it up with Madame Maxime if she had to over this, but Olympe had been watching, so it wasn't Fleur who was going to be chastised when they got back to the carriage.

Not that Fleur would be staying in the carriage anyway, as Louis had arranged with Madame Maxime and Professor McGonagall for Fleur to be allowed to stay in the Nobles Tower and study with her betrothed and the rest of those being tutored separately while she was at Hogwarts. The official reason for this was that neither Fleur nor her family were happy with the idea that her education would be adversely effected because of her being selected to be part of the group going to Hogwarts for a year for the Triwizard Tournament, so they had made arrangements for her to join the private tutoring group that was getting superior results to any other students at Hogwarts.

* * *

At the end of the feast, Minerva gave the spiel about the tournament and had Mrs Figg bring out the Casket with the Goblet of Fire.

One of Minerva's first acts upon being confirmed as the Headmistress was to get rid of Filch, because he was not fit to be anywhere around children. When Amelia investigated the Dursleys and what happened to Harry while he was with them, she found that Arabella had done the best she could for Harry within the constraints that Dumbledore had put on her, so Minerva had offered her the Caretaker's position when she dismissed Filch.

Vernon, Petunia and Marge Dursley had all gone to prison for their abuse of Harry, and therefore their beloved Dudley was sent into the foster care system. None who had watched Harry's memories of what his cousin had done to him could generate any sympathy for poor little Dudikins's fate after that.

When the goblet was removed from the casket, it was a little disappointing, because it was just a large wooden cup, the only impressive things about it were the blue white flames that filled it, and gave it its name. This was the part that worried them, because aside from the school details, which were sealed with their blood and put into the Goblet by their Heads of School, the three Ministry officials (Bagman wasn't part of this) were the ones who were feeding the information that would determine the selection process and everything else for the Tournament into the Goblet of Fire.

This obviously meant that one or more of them would be involved in setting up whatever it was that dragged Harry into the Tournament. There was no doubt that Abbott was involved, but what about the other two? The fact that the French official was a Lestrange and had openly opposed Louis Delacour in the French Ministry on many matters didn't bode well, and Krakov, the Bulgarian official, seemed quite antagonistic as well.

They watched the officials taking turns to toss pieces of parchment into the goblet, with the flames flaring up and turning red whenever they did so, but they wouldn't let anyone see what was on any of those pieces of parchment. All they would say when asked was that they were descriptions of the tasks, and the conditions that had to be applied to the Tournament. Minerva and Olympe could only hope that they'd been told the truth about this, but the ex-Death Eater Karkaroff who was the Headmaster of Durmstrang was sporting a malicious smile that implied that he had been told more than them.

Harry and Hermione consoled themselves with the fact that they at least knew _how_ the conditions for the Tournament were put into the goblet this time, in the last cycle, Dumbledore, Crouch, and maybe Bagman, had kept everyone in the dark about that.

Minerva told the students that to enter themselves as candidates to be their school's Champion in the Triwizard Tournament, they had to write their name and school on a piece of parchment and seal it with their own blood. The goblet would be placed in the chamber behind the High Table, and those students who had reached their majority would be allowed to enter the chamber to put their details into the goblet to enter themselves for consideration over the next twenty four hours.

She further noted that Magical Law Enforcement Officers would be guarding the chamber and they would be recording the names of all Hogwarts students who entered themselves for consideration. When the officials questioned this, she said that this was merely a further check that concerned parents had requested and she had agreed to.

Madame Maxime was the only other one associated with the tournament at the High Table who did not object when Minerva once again extolled all students considering entering themselves into the Tournament to carefully weigh the risks that they would be facing before they did so, as once they entered themselves they were bound to compete in the tournament and they would be facing great danger if they did. No matter how much they objected though, the officials couldn't erase her warnings and Madame Maxime's obvious approval of those warnings restrained their reactions. Minerva was under no illusions that many students would heed her warnings, but her conscience demanded that she at least try to make them see sense before they dove into this.

Before they left the Great Hall, the French official Lestrange dragged Fleur aside and reminded her that her father would be ruined if she did not enter herself into the Tournament, and while Krum's arrogance restrained what concern they may have held for him, they did note that the Bulgarian official pulled him aside and appeared to be threatening him as well. It appeared that Fleur, Krum and Harry were _all_ going to be forced to compete this time. They all went straight to the Tower from the Great Hall, because Dobby had retrieved Fleur's trunk from the Beauxbatons carriage for her and it was already waiting in her room.

* * *

The charms that Professor Flitwick had placed over the doorway into the chamber where the goblet sat caught a number of under age Hogwarts students trying to get their names into the Goblet of Fire. The officers just took their names and sent them away with the advice that the Headmistress would be talking to them about this. These charms also flared up when Fleur and Viktor tried to enter, because they were still under the _British_ age of majority, but they were allowed in by the officers because Minerva had specifically mentioned the difference between the British age of majority and that of France and Bulgaria in her speech the night before.

It was hard for any of the students at Hogwarts to concentrate on their lessons the next day, but even more so for those in the Tower, because they were hoping against hope that Harry and Fleur might somehow escape their apparently inevitable parts in this Tournament. Though time dragged because of this, soon enough they were all sitting down for the Halloween feast.

The goblet and the pedestal it sat on had been brought out of the chamber where they'd been for the past twenty four hours at the start of the feast and now sat on the podium in front of the High Table.

Martin Abbott had tried to insist that he should be the one who announced the selected Champions, but the rules of the Triwizard Tournament stated quite clearly that the Headmaster or Headmistress of the school hosting the Tournament had that duty, so with Madame Maxime's help he was quickly shut down.

At the end of the feast, Fleur moved to the head of the table with kisses for luck from all of them, but they knew that there was little chance that she would not be selected. Sure enough, when the flames in the goblet first changed to red and flared up, it was Fleur's name that was spat out. She shared a look of resignation with her friends at the other end of the table and stood, gliding forward gracefully to curtsy to those at the High Table, then proceeded to the chamber as they had been directed.

The flames flared up again and spat out another piece of parchment, and this time it was Viktor, he got up and stiffly marched to the High Table, pausing to bow mechanically to the people there before he marched off to the chamber.

The next time the flames flared up it was Marcus Flint, he stood and strutted past the High Table without making any attempt to pay his respects, disappearing into the chamber with Fleur and Viktor. The students started talking about who'd been selected, many of them bitter that it hadn't been them, but Harry, Hermione and the others were waiting with bated breath for what they knew was about to happen.

They and the parts of the Hogwarts staff who were with the family weren't the only ones who failed to register surprise when the flames flared up again, but this time Harry, Hermione and the others were watching for who would give themselves away, so they caught the caught the flash of a malicious smile of triumph that crossed over Martin Abbot's face when another piece of parchment came out of the flames.

The fact that the name Minerva read out was 'Lord Harry Potter' was the quite unnecessary proof that this hadn't been entered by anyone who knew Harry, because it was always 'Lord Henry' or 'Harry', those names never crossed over. There were cries of 'cheat' and worse as he strode to the High Table and bowed to Minerva and those seated there, but he took out his wand as he turned to face the students. Holding the wand to his neck, his words carried to everyone in the hall. "I, Lord Henry James Potter, swear on my life and magic that I did not enter my name for the Triwizard Tournament, and nor did I willingly or knowingly have anyone else enter my name for this Tournament!"

They saw the flash as the oath was accepted, and then he raised the wand and cried out. "Lumos!" As they tried to blink away the effects of the blinding light that had erupted from his wand, anyone in the Hall who was capable of reason had to concede that he'd just proven that he did not enter himself into the Tournament. By the time their vision had cleared, Harry was in the chamber with the other Champions.

* * *

The chamber was a little crowded with the four Ministry officials, the three Heads of School, Filius and Aurora, Sirius and Ulfr, _p_ _lus_ Madam Bones and the team that she'd somehow already arrived with to look into who had tampered with the selection of the Champions, and why. Abbott's accusations that Potter must have cheated were expected, but Minerva had no trouble shooting him down. "Are you an idiot Abbott? Did you not just witness the magical oath that _Lord_ Potter just gave quite publicly to _prove_ that he not only didn't enter himself, he had no part in getting anyone else to enter him?"

Amelia cut off any response from Abbott by requesting the parchment used to enter Harry, and she snorted when she looked at it. "This is neither Lord Potter's handwriting or how he styles his name, and does this Rowan Academy for Witches even exist?"

There was a brief delay while one of the DMLE Officers was sent to check on the Academy, and Fleur tried to lighten the mood a little. "A Witches Academy? Is this something that your betrothed should know about My Lord?"

When Minerva responded with. "There are no doubt many things that you have yet to learn about your betrothed Mademoiselle Delacour, but _that_ is something that you need not worry about." everyone but Sirius, Amelia and Filius stared at her in shock. She gave the others a disdainful look before she added as if in confidence to Fleur. "I looked after him many times when he was a baby and had to change him more than a few times."

That made Fleur give a mischievous giggle and Harry an exasperated groan.

The DMLE Officer came back with confirmation that the Rowan Academy for Witches _had_ existed, but it had closed down over a hundred and fifty years ago. They knew that there was little chance of getting Harry out of this, but Amelia had to make at least a token gesture. "As it is obvious that this entry was not made by Lord Potter and he has proven this by the oath he gave, what must be done to get him out of this Tournament?"

Most people may have been fooled by the Abbott's regretful tone when he replied, but Amelia wasn't most people, and she heard the note of triumph that he was unable to keep out of it as he said. "I am afraid that if his entry was actually sealed with _Lord_ Potter's blood, he must compete in the Tournament until the end or he will lose his life and his magic."

Pandemonium reigned in the chamber for some time, because just about everyone was shouting at Abbott. Harry and most of the others on his side remained clear headed enough to note that the only ones who this news came as no surprise to and didn't seem bothered by it were Abbott or Lestrange, which clearly showed who had been behind it, even if proving that would be well nigh impossible.

This made sense to Harry when he thought about it, as they knew that the Fudge and his camp wanted him dead, because they obviously believed that the Potter Alliance would fall apart without the last Potter. From what they'd learned, it appeared that elements of the French Ministry, possibly the Minister himself, also had a similar agenda in regard to Fleur. Their plan appeared to be to kill off Louis's daughter, the Veela Heir to the House of Delacour, in an attempt to undermine Louis, the House of Delacour and the Veelas.

The only Ministry which _didn't_ seem to have been part of this plan to kill off the participants in the Tournament was the Bulgarians. This too made sense, as they were blatantly trying to use Krum's notoriety as the youngest professional Quidditch player at a national level in centuries to boost Bulgaria's image. When Abbott came to them about the Triwizard Tournament, they would have seen this as the perfect vehicle to make even more use of Krum's reputation, which of course was why he had been forced to enter himself into the Tournament.

The Bulgarian Ministry had probably been hoping to find some way to ensure that Krum won the Triwizard Tournament, and then in turn use that to further bolster Bulgaria's image. None of this would be possible if Viktor lost his magic and, even worse, _died_ as a result of some error that prevented him from finishing the tournament! This was why the Bulgarian official was outraged, because he now realised that the other two had played him for a fool and betrayed him, and he would pay for being so gullible when he returned to Bulgaria.

Karkaroff was similarly worried about what would happen to him if Bulgaria's favourite son died as a result of something he was partly responsible for him being in, but Madame Maxime was honestly upset and outraged that Fleur's very life was being threatened by being in this Tournament. Minerva and Sirius were furious, and wanted to kill Abbott for putting Harry in this position. Amelia was in much the same space as them, but she realised that they couldn't do anything without proof, and the bastard seemed to have been too careful for much chance of that.

She knew the answer to this question from the look on Abbott's face, but they had to be sure, so she called for Poppy Pomfrey to quickly confirm that it was, in fact, Harry's blood that had been used to seal the entry. The DMLE would of course run extensive tests on the blood as well, but Poppy's confirmation would be all the proof she needed.

It proved prudent to not tell Poppy why she was doing this test until after she'd given her result, because when she heard what this had sentenced Harry to, she broke down so completely that she had to be carried from the chamber. Andi, Hermione and Alastor were called to the chamber to be told the news after that, and Hermione and Andi broke down when they heard as well, as they'd been expecting to hear that Harry would lose his magic, but not his life.

Amelia demanded to see the rules of the Tournament, but for the most part these just said that the rules were whatever was in the Goblet of Fire. While Abbott and Lestrange wouldn't reveal anything, the newly disillusioned Krakov told them that Abbott had the documentation that determined what could be done with the Goblet and how. Abbott was refusing to release this to them until Amelia unleashed Hermione and Sirius on him. He'd half expected Black to be frightening after ten years in Azkaban, but somehow the fury and palpable menace from that little witch was even more terrifying!

When Abbott produced the instructions for the Goblet, Hermione snatched them off of him and Amelia waved the others back, because if anyone would be able to get to the bottom of this, it was Hermione. Before she went off to a corner to wade into the document, Hermione whispered to Amelia to get confirmation on record from all four officials that _only_ those who had reached their majority were allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Amelia didn't understand the reason for this, but she had stopped questioning Harry and Hermione over a year ago, so she just nodded.

She questioned Abbott, Lestrange, Krakov and Bagman while Hermione was poring through the instructions for the Goblet, and Abbot and Lestrange were distracted enough by the worry of what Hermione may find out that they also gave the confirmation that yes, _only_ those who had reached their majority were allowed to compete in the Tournament. Abbott did become suspicious enough to ask why she was asking this, and why their responses were being recorded, but Amelia just waved the Tournament rules and said that she was required to confirm what was in here.

The Goblet of Fire had been brought back into the chamber while Amelia was questioning the officials, and just after this, Hermione jumped up in triumph and raced over to Minerva, telling her that as one of the Heads of School she could use her blood to make the Goblet answer questions about what rules and tasks had been put into it. She warned her that the questions had to be precise, and she could only ask a question once.

The limitation of only being able to ask one question on a given topic hampered them getting the information they wanted. For example, they got confirmation that the Champions would lose their magic, and probably their lives, if they failed to complete all three tasks or were deemed to be cheating. However, the hasty question about what the tasks were was answered with 'The first task involves facing dragons. The second task involves recovering something from the bottom of the lake. The third task involves getting past obstacles to negotiate a maze.' which didn't tell them anything more than they already knew, and further detail couldn't be asked for.

When the three Heads of School demanded that the tasks be changed (As Minerva had seen how these tasks had gone last time in Harry and Hermione's memories. Olympe knew that as a Veela, Fleur would be weakened and vulnerable under water, and Karkaroff didn't believe that Krum could survive facing a dragon.) it was Hermione who shook her head, telling them that once the tasks had been put into the Goblet, they couldn't be changed from what had been entered.

A question about who had entered Harry Potter was answered with 'Lord Harry Potter', so they realised that the Cup could only tell them what name had been entered into it. They tried asking who the Head of School for Rowan Academy for Witches was, hoping that Abbott may have slipped up, but the answer was 'Agnes Woodcroft', who the officer who had been sent to check confirmed had been the last Headmistress at Rowan.

When the questions and arguments died down, Bagman started bouncing with excitement about giving the Champions their instructions for the first task. Wearing his old over tight Wasps Quidditch robes in some desperate attempt to hang onto his long gone glory days, Hermione and Harry were reminded of a fatter and less appealing Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, while Minerva was heard muttering 'I wonder if you could knock any sense into that thick head of his with a beater's bat?' and a confused Madame Maxine asked. "Is _this_ truly the head of a department in your Ministry?"

Eventually, Abbott bowed to pressure to respond. "This task was meant to be unknown as a test of whether they would face it with the courage of true Champions, but that was ruined because they cheated and so have found out that they cannot refuse the task and that they will be facing dragons. By rights, they _should_ all be declared cheaters and accept their punishment..."

He looked up, as if waiting for lightning bolts from the Gods to strike them all down, but gave up with a disgruntled huff after a while and continued. "So I'm not going to tell them anything more about the first task other than it will be held in a month's time." With that, he turned and stormed out of the chamber.

* * *

While Amelia still had to question the rest of them, Harry and Fleur had already been questioned, so they and the others were sent back to the Tower. An hour later, Amelia and Kingsley arrived via the trunk floo, bringing the Tournament rules, Goblet instructions and the transcripts of her questioning of the Ministry officials because she wanted some answers from Hermione in the privacy of the Tower. Ted had been there for a while, going over their stories in hope of finding some legal solution to the issues.

Amelia started as soon as she walked in. Nothing else in this held the faintest shred of hope for Harry or Fleur, so she was praying that whatever Hermione was working in did. "Alight, why did you get me to ask them those questions Hermione? Is it some way to get Harry and Fleur out of this?"

Hermione shook her head. "Sorry, no, it was something that came up last time. Harry and Professor McGonagall were arguing with Crouch about how the rules stated that you have to be of age to compete in the Tournament and Harry wasn't of age so he wasn't allowed to compete. Crouch got angry and shouted that yes, you had to have reached maturity to compete in the Tournament but Harry was competing and that was that! Bagman repeated this in some attempt to calm them down, and afterwards the goblins found an old rule that said that a minor could be emancipated early if two senior Ministry officials officially stated that they had met the conditions for early emancipation. The memories of Crouch and Bagman, as the heads of two departments in the Ministry, stating in a meeting for the Tournament that anyone in the Tournament had reached their majority and that Harry was in the Tournament was deemed by the Registration Office as sufficient evidence that Harry had met the conditions and they formally processed his emancipation. That was when Gringott told Harry that he was the Heir to the Houses of Potter, Peverell and Gryffindor and convinced him to accept the title of Lord Potter to start taking charge of his life….."

She suddenly stopped and tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered something else. "And it was just after that when Harry began his sexual relationship with Ginny and I gave in and started having sex with Ronald, so Dumbledore must have discovered Harry's change of status and told Molly step up the love and lust potions for all of us to ensure that Harry and I were under their control….." Harry put his arm around her to comfort her, even though he was looking upset himself by his own memories. She leant into him as she continued.

"Anyway, I had you include Lestrange and Krakov in the questioning so that Abbott wouldn't think to ask why only the British Ministry officials were being questioned about it. I wanted to get their statements on record so we can use them to get Harry officially emancipated again. That will mean that he has the ability to do magic, get an apparation license and all the other freedoms that come with emancipation. We should do the same for Fleur too because in Britain she won't of age for nearly a year yet either."

Amelia shook her head at that, not mentioning the first thing that came to her mind, that Harry and Ron had been fourteen at that point, Hermione was fifteen but Ginny was just _**thirteen**_! Even leaving the ages of the other kids out of it, what kind of woman could do that to her own thirteen year old daughter? What she said though was.

"In the middle of all of that was going on, you could think to cover details like that? You're incredible Hermione! OK, I'll get them both registered as emancipated tomorrow. Now, is there anything that we can use to get them out of this damned Tournament?"

Hermione shook her head again, in tears. "No, we knew that Poppy was going to confirm that the blood was Harry's, the only question there is how that bastard Abbott got his blood, and Fleur was pressured into entering herself. The rules have confirmed that they have to participate in all three tasks or they'll die, so all we can do is help them prepare. Harry's been working on that for fourteen months now and Fleur has been as well for over two months, so that's a start. Fleur being a Veela and Harry being a parselmouth gives them an advantage too, as Fleur is as close to fireproof as she can get and Harry will hopefully be able to negotiate with the dragons. Harry is also more powerful than just about anyone else alive, which won't hurt."

Sue had reacted about something Hermione said in this last statement, but she waited until Hermione finished to blurt out one word. "Hannah!"

That got their attention but they didn't understand what she was getting at yet. " _Hannah_ must be how he got Harry's blood. She's been hanging around a lot since we started back, supposedly trying to be friends again, but she must have looking for a chance to get something with Harry's blood on it. Once she had the blood, it would have been a simple matter for her to put a stasis charm on it and give it to Daddy."

As much as they didn't want to, they all found themselves agreeing with this, as it was the only thing that made any sense.

* * *

As promised, Amelia got Harry and Fleur's emancipations quietly registered the next day, and Harry had the trace removed from his wand. As they could both apparate, they took their tests and were licensed for that as well.

The following month was busy, as they were working on their plans for the first task as well as studying. Fleur had decided to stretch herself and join the NEWT group, as she had already covered most of the Fifth year subjects because she had been studying ahead. They made arrangements via Griselda for her to secretly sit her OWLs, and then she started on the Sixth year subjects with Penny, Hagrid, Harry and Hermione straight away.

They also heard from Charlie that the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary where he worked was supplying the four _nesting_ _mother_ dragons that they were bringing in, and that they were a Welsh Green, Swedish Short-Snout, Chinese Fireball and Hungarian Horntail. When he heard what the dragons would be, Harry knew that there was no doubt about which one he'd be getting, the Horntail was the biggest and most vicious of the breeds, so that one would have been hand picked to be paired with him.

For that matter, it was a good bet that the Welsh Green, as the 'safest' breed, would be paired with Flint as the selection criteria for Hogwarts _must_ have been altered to stack the odds heavily in his favour for him to be selected as the Hogwarts Champion, because there was no way he had managed _that_ on his own abilities.

If they had what they needed to set up a match for Fleur, his guess was that the Short-Snout would be paired with her, as that was the next most dangerous dragon breed they were bringing after the Horntail.

When he stopped to think about it, Harry realised that they must _all_ have been pre-selected by their Ministries to be the Champions for their schools (well, they had effectively _created_ a school to get _him_ into the Tournament). The French Ministry had made too much effort to get Fleur in, between adding her to the delegates list and threatening both her and Louis, to have allowed anyone else to be selected as the Beauxbatons Champion, so they would have set it up to make sure she was selected. The Bulgarian Ministry had obviously done something similar with Krum, except that the intention in his case seemed to be to showcase him as a publicity stunt, rather than kill him.

Of course, he and Fleur did have two very big advantages, the first being that they could go and see these dragons before they came to Hogwarts, but the _main_ one was that he could talk to the dragons and try to convince them that he and Fleur had no intentions of harming them or their eggs. Hopefully he could agree a way with the dragons to ensure that. They made a few visits via trunk floo to the Dragon Sanctuary before the mothers were shipped to Hogwarts, and they were feeling a lot more comfortable about dealing with the dragons after that. Harry smiled to himself as he thought that if this came off as they'd planned, a lot of people were going be disappointed about the first task.

Charlie came to see them when he arrived with the dragons. He did offer an olive branch to Percy, Ron and Ginny, but they rebuffed his overtures of reconciliation, so he happily spent what time he could with his _real_ family.

* * *

On the day of the first task, they were all surprised to see Gabrielle there with Louis, Apolline, and Apolline's mother, Anne Lafitte. Even at her age, Anne was a beautiful woman, and Harry and Hermione could sense that she was extremely powerful, far more so than Apolline or anyone else they had met, even Dumbledore hadn't felt this powerful.

When Harry asked Louis what he was doing bringing Gabi to the Tournament, Louis replied that she was safest with all of them and the guards around her, and that her Grand-mère had demanded that she be there when she was officially introduced to the man her petite filles were betrothed to. Louis leaned in to add quietly that his mother-in-law was _not_ someone that you said no to.

Anne insisted on seeing Harry and all of his betrothed together, and she looked strangely satisfied when she did so. Apolline also had a strange expression on her face as she looked at them as a group, and something told Harry that they were seeing something that others did not. He caught a thought from Hermione about something that he'd missed, and wondered about the implications of that, as with Fleur and Gabi added in, there were now seven of them. This led to the obvious question of whether the magical number seven would actually effect their magic and _that_ brought up memories of what he and Hermione could do together. If the seven of them together brought forth equivalent increases in power….. the very thought of what could be unleashed was frightening.

All of the families were sent away to watch the task from the stands when the Ministry officials came into the tent. Abbott held out a small bag and sneered as he said. "Ladies first." to Fleur. It as as Harry had expected, they could see considerable activity in the bag, then Fleur jerked her hand out with a miniature facsimile of the Swedish Short-Snout, wearing a number '2', attached to her finger.

Abbott gave a malicious smile as he held out the bag to Harry and said. "I think we should go youngest to oldest for the gentlemen, Mister Potter?"

Harry felt something latch onto his finger and when he withdrew his hand, the facsimile of the Horntail with a number '4' was hanging off his finger. Krum was also bitten when he put his hand into the bag, but his hand came out clutching the Fireball wearing a number '3'. Flint had the Welsh Green wearing the number '1' attached to his finger when he jerked his hand out of the bag, so it was all as Harry had expected.

Flint went out first, and Harry smiled to himself as he listened to what happened over the communications mirror he was concealing in his robes. The judges and most of the spectators were confused, disappointed and outraged when the dragon scooped the foreign egg out from among her own eggs and cast it away from them before curling protectively around her real eggs. Even Flint wasn't stupid enough to take on a dragon when there was no need, so he ran out, snatched up the golden egg and ran away as fast as he could.

The crowd was booing and demanding more of a show, but when Abbott demanded that the dragon handlers do something to make the dragons put on the type of show that people were expecting, he suddenly found himself facing a _very_ frightening figure as the one leading the dragon handlers told him that if _anyone_ tried to do anything like that, they'd be cursed into oblivion!

Olaf Drakul was from a long line of dragon handlers, and he was the Head Handler for the world's biggest Dragon Sanctuary because the dragons recognised and related to the fact that he respected and cared for them. He and Charlie were the only ones from the Sanctuary who knew why these nesting mothers had come quietly and caused no trouble on this trip, and he wasn't about to allow anything to threaten this peace, or the nesting mothers and their eggs.

It was only when Charlie introduced him to this boy, Harry, who turned out to be one of the ones these dragons were being taken to Britain for, as well as one of the most powerful political figures in Britain, _and_ a parselmouth that Olaf began to understand what was going on. When Harry had explained the situation to him, he was only too willing to have him talk to the dragons and try and work out a solution that would keep them and their eggs safe, as the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary had objected strongly to the idea of nesting mothers being used in a contest of this nature, but they had been forced to buckle under considerable political pressure and eventually capitulated.

Harry had introduced the dragons to Hermione and Fleur, explaining that Fleur was also part of this contest, and between them they told them (and Olaf and Charlie) what they believed would be happening in the contest. They explained that fake eggs would most probably be put among their own, and that the contestants would be told that they had to recover these fake eggs from them, this was the only thing that could explain the need for nesting mothers. So, the best way to prevent them or their eggs being hurt would be to separate these fake eggs from their own and throw them away, and then protect their own eggs until they were taken away.

Now that they were in the first task, that was exactly what happened. The Green found the foreign egg and got it well away from her's, and then protected her eggs until the handlers came to take her and her eggs away. As she passed the Short-Snout being led in, she trumpeted at her that it was just as the speaker had said, all she had to do was get rid of the foreign egg and then protect her own eggs until she was taken away again.

The Short-Snout quickly rooted out the fake egg and got rid of it, but she was comforted to see that the one she faced was one of the Speaker's mates. At the signal to begin, Fleur gracefully moved forward and curtsied respectfully to the dragon, getting a nod of her head in return. With that, Fleur picked up the golden egg and calmly walked from the stadium with another curtsy to the dragon.

Harry and Krum were alone in the Champions tent except for Ulfr when Fleur left, so Harry went to speak to him. "Viktor, when you go out there, as long as you don't attack the dragon you'll be fine. The dragon will have thrown the golden egg away from her nest, so all you have to do is get the egg and leave."

Krum looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know this?"

The quickest way to do this was let him hear for himself, so Harry took the mirror out of his pocket and raised the volume. Krum heard exactly what Harry had told him being described, and Bagman complaining that it was just like the first time. Harry asked him to keep it quiet and play along, and if he did that he'd try to explain afterwards. Viktor nodded at that, because he'd been terrified of facing a dragon, as any sane person would have been.

Krum's turn played out much like Fleur's, except he marched out and bowed stiffly when he collected the egg. Harry followed in kind, though rather less rigid than Viktor. The Horntail trumpeted at him that the dragons wished to see him before they were returned to their home and he bowed to her again.

* * *

After the Horntail and her eggs had been taken away, the four Champions assembled in front of the judging panel (the three Heads of International Magical Co-operation, Bagman and the three heads of School).

Abbott just raged at them, saying that he was going to declare the task invalid because they had all cheated, and they should pay the price for cheating. At that Louis stood up in the stands and cast a sonorous.

"I do not think so Monsieur Abbott! The task specified that the contestants must each recover a golden egg that had been placed with one of the dragons, and they have each done so!"

The reply was shouted. "No they didn't! Those Merlin be damned dragons threw the eggs out and they just picked them up, there was no contest! No Magic!"

"And why do you think the dragons threw the eggs out, as you say? Are you so much of an imbécile that you cannot work out what magic was used?"

"What do you mean, they used no magic! They just walked in and took the eggs the dragons gave them!"

Louis was obviously exasperated as he asked. "And what magic talent do you think could have brought these strange occurrences about?"

Harry had had enough of this, so he cast his own sonorous. " _ **Parseltongue!**_ "

Abbott and just about everyone else was staring at him then, dumbstruck. " _ **I**_ talked to the dragons and explained to them that the best way to keep them and their eggs safe was to throw out the eggs that someone else had put in their nests and then wait to be taken away. I'd say that worked out quite well, because _no-one_ was hurt and that is a _**big**_ improvement over what happened the last time dragons were used in this tournament."

Abbott was pointing at him and screaming. " _ **Dark Wizard! Cheat! I'll have you for this Potter!**_ "

It was as if the temperature had dropped when Harry replied, still using the sonorous. "I don't think so _**Abbott**_. For a start, parseltongue is only considered a dark talent in Britain and at that only for the last century or so. I've been offered quite a lot of money to help the Dragon Reserves with my talent. As for cheating, the definition of cheating is using something to gain unfair advantage, how did I gain any advantage when this allowed _**all**_ of the Champions to succeed without risking life and limb? And last, but certainly not least, this is the last time that you will be allowed to disrespect your betters like this!"

He turned to the stands. "Madam Bones, you have witnessed this verbal assault against the Head of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and the Noble and Ancient House of Flamel, have you not?"

"Indeed I have Lord Potter!"

"In your professional opinion, would I be justified in calling for retribution against the Noble House of Abbott for this attack?"

"I believe that you would Lord Potter, and I am prepared to raise the matter in the Wizengamot on your behalf if you so wish?"

"If you would, Madam Bones, that would be greatly appreciated. I thank you."

"Not at all My Lord, after all, you are a very pillar of our society and we cannot condone attacks against such as you by such _inferior_ houses." While she was talking to Harry (and the audience), she was fixing Abbott with a look that said he'd pay for what he did, and he was bright enough to realise that she meant more than just today.

Louis spoke up again. "Also, Monsieur Abbott, you should know that I have sponsored the complaint that the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary is taking to the ICW about their being forced to put four specific nesting mothers and their eggs at risk by supplying them for use in this contest in Britain, where it is _illegal_ to import dragons. The scope of this complaint will include the Romanian officials who were convinced to bring political pressure to bear on the Sanctuary to force them to capitulate, but will be mainly focussed on the organisers of the reinstated Triwizard Tournament. As Comte Potter has mentioned, there will also be questions asked about why the organisers have insisted on a task that required the inclusion of multiple dragons, nesting mothers no less, when it had been a catastrophe involving dragons that was the reason the Triwizard Tournament was banned two hundred years ago. Another matter will be added after today, in regard to the fact that _**you**_ insisted that something be done to make these dragons react more aggressively. We have made the first steps to a more peaceful co-existence with the dragons, but your attempt to force something that would have put nesting mothers and their eggs at risk could have destroyed that!"

Harry and the family were probably the only ones who weren't surprised when Marcus Flint got the second highest score for the first task, considering his cowardly display (he had done everything but scream like a little girl, and it was all the more obvious because he was the biggest and oldest of the Champions). Nor were they surprised that Harry and Fleur shared the lowest score. Not that they cared though, if every task was this boring and uneventful, they would quite happy, but they knew that that was too much to hope for.

* * *

The dragons (and Olaf) mainly wanted to thank Harry for ensuring that their eggs were safe. They also got him to agree to visit the Sanctuary more often and talk to them. Olaf warned Harry that he would be trying to organise a 'speaking tour' of the Dragon Reserves for him in hope of generating a more peaceful co-existence between the dragons and the humans, and wiping out the memories of the last one who spoke to the dragons, as that had been Voldemort thirty or forty years before.

Hannah Abbott stopped trying to hang around their group after Sue hissed at her. "If I ever find any proof at all that you were the one who took something with Harry's blood on it to your father, I will fucking end you!"

The animosity from the Abbott family only increased after they lost a third of their holdings and worth to the House of Potter for the very public verbal attack and false accusations that Martin Abbott had flung at Harry at the end of the first task. If course Abbott wouldn't accept that the fault in this incident had been his, so that just strengthened his resolve to attack Harry.

* * *

The announcement of the Yule Ball that was being held for the Tournament on the Winter Solstice had many students at Hogwarts quite excited, but Harry grumped that they could afford to be excited, because they weren't being _required_ to be there! Minerva had informed him that all the Champions were expected to attend and dance the first dance with their dates, and she didn't leave him with any option to get out of it.

When he talked it over with the girls, they agreed to shake things up, with Fleur going as his official 'date' but Hermione, Millie, Daphne and Astoria also going with him, and he'd be spending as much time with them as he did with Fleur. This practice of taking all their betrothed to the Ball was going to be adopted by the rest of the 'family' as well, though Penny and Dora were coming together as their betrothed weren't at Hogwarts. It was agreed that all of the girls would get equal time dancing with the boys, though the boys would be on the dance floor twice as much as they had a two for one girl to boy ratio.

Another amusing point was that, in an obvious attempt to exclude most of the group, Abbott had insisted that with the exception of the Champions, it was to be restricted to Fourth Year and above students. As the Ministry paid no attention to their achievements, they hadn't realised that they were **_all_** in Fourth Year or above, even the eleven year olds, Luna and Astoria.


	8. A Ball, Veelas and Battles

**NB: There are a few sections with more mature and unpleasant concepts in this chapter. The beginning and end of these sections are marked so they can be skipped if that is what people wish. Skipping the unpleasant sections probably won't effect understanding of the story line, but skipping the more mature concepts may as they're part of a development to do with Fleur and the others that's coming out.**

 **Usual disclaimers for the land of litigation, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess Tale.**

Several of the group spent most of the time until the start of the Christmas Break avoiding other students, because the announcement of the Yule Ball after the First Task had led to a deluge of invitations to the Ball, and some of them were quite insistent. Fleur, Daphne, Tracey and Millie had to repeatedly reject both Flint and Krum, who refused to acccept that they were going with anyone and decided that they were just playing hard to get. They also pointedly ignored the fact that all four girls were betrothed, and therefore it would be inappropriate for them to go to the Ball with anyone _but_ their betrothed.

Krum and Fudge were also chasing Hermione the same way and demanding that she go with them, ignoring her rejections. Hermione finally managed to make Fudge scuttle off and hide by humiliating him in front of everyone in the Great Hall. She cast a sonorous to make sure that _everyone_ in the Great Hall heard her.

"Look Squeaky (his voice had never recovered from what she did to him when he wouldn't leave her alone after the Betrothal Scandal), how many times do I have to tell you? I. Am. Betrothed! I am also going to the Ball with someone _much_ better than you! Even if I wasn't, I would _**never**_ consider going _**anywhere**_ with you, for anything! Not for a moment! You repulse me, and if you won't leave me alone I will have my goblin guards _**make**_ you! You can't follow me around with no legs, can you?"

Ulfr and Snorri stroked their axe blades with gleaming eyes and gave Fudge broad goblin grins at that, showing a plethora of sharp teeth. That frightened Fudge enough to lose control of both his bladder and bowels, so he had to hobble out of the Great Hall as fast as he could, trying to avoid further embarrassment. Krum was laughing louder than anyone at that, until Hermione turned on him, with the sonorous still active, and said. " _ **That goes for you too Quidditch Boy! Stay away from me or face the consequences!**_ "

Krum flushed with anger when _**he**_ became the subject of everyone's laughter and he started to draw his wand, but he was stopped by the voice of someone else using a sonorous. " _ **Let go of that wand if you want to live Mister Krum!**_ "

Silence fell over the Great Hall at that, and most turned to stare at the High Table where Professor McGonagall was standing, shaking with rage. Karkaroff leapt to his feet, similarly enraged. "You would _**dare**_ to threaten Viktor Krum? You will pay for this McGonagall! My country will make sure of that!"

The gaze she turned on Karkaroff was no less heated, and most presumed that she'd forgotten to cancel the sonorous charm. "If you weren't such an arrogant idiot Karkaroff, you would have made sure you learned the rules of Hogwarts and Britain before you came here! Under the _**immutable**_ rules of Hogwarts, _**a**_ _ **ny**_ student attacking another with a wand at Hogwarts has their wand snapped and is expelled! Hogwarts will allow _**no**_ exceptions to this! While I cannot expel Mister Krum as he is not a student of Hogwarts, I _**am**_ required to cast him out of Hogwarts, and therefore the Triwizard Tournament as it is being hosted here. Have you forgotten what will happen to Krum if he does _**not**_ finish the Triwizard Tournament Karkaroff? Do I have to remind you of what will happen to him?"

Karkaroff went white as he realised what she was saying.

"Quite aside from _**that**_ , under the laws of Magical Britain, the penalty for an attempt on the life of the Head or Heir of a Noble and Ancient or higher House or their betrothed by someone of an inferior house or family is _**death**_!"

"Lady Granger is the Head of _**two**_ Noble and Most Ancient Houses, and furthermore she is betrothed to the Head of **four** Noble and Most Ancient Houses, and they are Heirs to other Noble and Most Ancient and Noble and Ancient Houses as well. The Krum family does not even qualify as the equivalent of a _**Minor**_ House in Bulgaria, so attacking Lady Granger would most certainly see Mister Krum executed, that is if his magic had not already killed him!"

She glared at him for about a minute before she added coldly. "And before you decide to follow through on that thought you have to attack _**me**_ Karkaroff, know that _**I**_ am the Head of the Noble and Ancient House of McGonagall, so that action would most definitely see _**you**_ executed! I dare say the Director of our Department of Magical Law Enforcement will want to question you before you are sent to be executed though, as we have many questions about your _fellow_ Death Eaters. Don't waste time thinking that you could escape either, because the Aurors and Officers of our DMLE would catch you before you had a chance to get out of Hogwarts!"

Karkaroff was shaking with rage, but not a little fear was showing as well, now that it had been made clear to everyone in the Great Hall just how close both he and Krum had come to getting a death sentence here today, and that he was a Death Eater as well. He shouted _**"Come!"**_ at Krum before he turned to storm out of the castle.

In the quiet that followed that altercation, Millie stood and shouted across the hall. " _ **Flint!**_ As the betrothed of the Heirs to Noble and Most Ancient and Noble and Ancient Houses, Miss Greengrass, Miss Davis and myself are hereby advising you that what was said to Fudge and Krum applies to _**you**_ as well! Leave us alone or we will _**make**_ you leave us alone!"

Fleur stood as well. " **Oui!** That applies to me as well, and the same goes for the rest of you! Leave me alone!"

Flint was livid about being publicly humiliated like that, but Professor McGonagall's message had been clear. If he did what he wanted to, he would be expelled from Hogwarts and cast out, and then executed if his magic didn't kill him first.

* * *

Everyone stayed away from the girls after that, because they were afraid of being on the receiving end of what Fudge, Krum and Flint had gotten. Unfortunately, the witches of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons apparently didn't think that those warnings applied to them, so Harry and Neville still had to deal with witches' attempts to get them alone so that they could be 'convinced' to take those witches to the Ball.

Sharing his chambers with Hermione and Millie, Harry had seen what was being offered to him before, and he had certainly gone further than that in the last cycle, but Neville had had a more sheltered life and he wasn't at all used to seeing girls in their underwear, or even less in the case of some of the bolder witches.

Harry had to stifle his inclination to laugh at the horrified expression on Neville's face after the first few times this happened to him, because it wasn't at all funny for Neville. Therefore, he just advised Neville to do as he was doing and supply the memories of those encounters to Professor McGonagall and Madame Maxime, and let _**them**_ deal with these girls. As a result of that, two of the Beauxbatons delegation were sent home, and there was a definite question as to whether seven Hogwarts students would be returning after the Christmas Break.

The parents of four of them had been shocked and appalled by what Professor McGonagall had shown them when they were called to the school to discuss their daughters' behaviour. On the other hand, the other three Hogwarts students' fates were in the balance _because_ their parents couldn't see anything wrong with them making those types of overtures to innocent and unwilling twelve year old boys (while Harry may have seen these things before and had done a good deal more in the last cycle, he was still twelve and hadn't done anything in _this_ life) who were already betrothed to _other_ witches, so the decision of what was to be done with _them_ was in Minerva's hands.

 _ **Unpleasant section starts.**_

Ginny Scrimgeour was the first of these girls to be expelled from Hogwarts. Showing just about everything she had to Harry and aggressively telling him that she would _prove_ to him that she was much better than those other hags at _**eleven**_ had to be taken as proof that she had serious problems. When her father refused to agree that there was anything wrong with her behaviour, Minerva had no choice but to expel her from Hogwarts, saying that she couldn't have that type of behaviour around the other students.

Minerva had consulted with Madame Maxime on the matter, and what she'd seen was still fresh in her memory when Rufus Scrimgeour tried to get his daughter into Beauxbatons straight after Minerva expelled her. He was outraged when she told him that they could not accept his daughter at Beauxbatons, and repeated what Minerva had told him, that she needed serious help from good mind healers if she wasn't to end up in serious trouble quite soon.

Olympe was appalled that he was more worried about people knowing about what his daughter had done than the fact that it was the considered opinion of two women who had had a hand in shaping many young women into fine young witches over several decades that something was seriously wrong with the way Ginny had been raised and that she needed serious help.

They also referred the matter to Amelia as this was obviously something for the DMLE. Arthur and his sons were appalled to hear about this, but didn't have anything to tell her when Amelia asked if any of them recalled anything that could relate to this. Bill and Charlie hadn't spent much time at the Burrow for years, so they had less to tell the DMLE, but none of them really remembered anything, no matter how deep the investigators dug. Without being able to question Ginny herself, it looked doubtful that the DMLE would be able to uncover what had happened to her, and they couldn't get permission from her parents for that.

 _ **Unpleasant section finishes.**_

Word got around pretty quickly when the first witches were sent home, so soon enough Harry and Neville were being left alone as well.

Krum and Flint were furious when they arrived at the Yule Ball with their dates, Sophia Balfour of Hufflepuff and Tamara Powers of Ravenclaw, because they were immediately slapped in the face by the fact that Fleur Delacour had rejected both of them, but had come as _Harry Bloody Potter_ 's date! It only got worse when they went inside, because Granger, Greengrass and her sister and Bulstrode were all sitting with Potter, so it was obvious who _they_ had come with as well! Davis was sitting with Longbottom and Bones, so they'd even lost out to _Longbottom_!

They were both itching to hex this lot, but a prickling at the back of their heads made them turn to see who was watching them, and the look in McGonagall's eye when she met their gaze chilled them to the bone. They had no choice but to try to swallow their pride and pay attention to their dates.

They even lost out there though, because the professors had been keeping a close eye on them all night and stopped them from taking their dates off for some fun afterwards, making a point of ensuring the girls were safe inside their own dorms before sending the boys away.

Krum didn't hear Sophia's heartfelt "Thank you!" to Professor Sprout as she was sent inside the Hufflepuff Common Room, but Pomona did, and she would be asking the girl just why she was so grateful later. Tamara had been up for a bit of fun but when she sobered up, she wasn't at all unhappy to have been escorted back to her dorm by Professor Flitwick. When she woke the next morning, she decided to go to Madam Pomfrey and get herself tested for potions, because she couldn't believe that she'd been contemplating doing anything with _**Flint**_.

Aside from the glares coming their way all night, Harry and the rest had a good time at the Ball. Harry's dance card was filled up with his betrothed and the other girls in the group, though he made time for a dance with Parvati as well, as she'd come with Cedric. After the ball, most of the group went back to Potter Manor or Black House, but they took Parvati home to her parents. Padma was staying at Potter House because she was working on her courses like the others.

* * *

As they went through January, Fleur was getting more and more distracted from her work because she was worrying about the second task. As Harry had seen in the last cycle, Veela are weaker underwater, because they are separated from the elements that they draw their strength from. Last time Fleur had failed this task, and her magic had had two more years development by then, so she was _really_ worried about how she'd handle it this time, especially as the British and French officials seemed intent on stacking the deck against both her and Harry. It was in the midst of this that Harry and all of his betrothed were requested to come to the Delacour Chateau with their parents or guardians to discuss a suggestion that Anne had.

As Millie's Guardian, Minerva left Hogwarts in Pomona and Filius's capable hands and along with the Tonks, Alastor, the Greengrasses and her students joined Anne and the Delacours at Delacour Chateau for dinner the next night. Looking around, Harry and Hermione shared the thought of how different this was from dealing with the Weasleys in the last cycle, because even after the twins had reached their majority their mother had insisted that they were too young to take part in any important discussions, but here, Astoria and Gabrielle were being included at eleven and ten because what they were discussing concerned them.

The discussion over dinner was kept light, then they all retired to the drawing room to discuss what they had been asked over for. Anne took over the discussion then, because she was one of the leading authorities on Veela capabilities. She tried to speak in English because it was important that they understand what was being asked, but luckily they all knew French to some degree, as her speech was peppered with French words. Harry took the opportunity to ask how it was that _she_ was so powerful.

She looked at him for a moment, as she weighed up whether she should divulge that information, as it was the Veelas' biggest secret, but she nodded, this young man was hopefully going to play a large role in her petite filles' lives, and he deserved to know this. Looking around the room, she took in the links between all of them and decided that they had a right to know as well, as they were all family.

"There a number of forms of Veela bonds 'arry, just as there are for 'uman bonds, for example, the one you have with 'ermione is the strongest I 'ave ever seen, and I expect that the two of you 'ave discovered some particular benefits from this?" Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Oui. It was the same for me, the type of bonding I 'ad with my mate was by far the rarest and most powerful form of all Veela bonds. This only 'appens once every two to three 'undred years at most and I am only the fourth one recorded in the history of the Veela. Unfortunately, there is a terrible price to pay for this bond, because while the Veela becomes immensely powerful from it, there is no record of 'er mate ever surviving it, as 'e is burnt out by the massive outburst of excess energy when the Veela transforms. You see, the Veela becomes one of the elders of the Veela race as part of that transformation, and she is many times more powerful than any normal Veela. One of the conditions that triggers this bond is that the Veela becomes pregnant in the intercourse that is required for the bonding ritual, another is that 'er mate is an extremely powerful wizard….. This is what 'appened to my 'enri. That is why I am so powerful, and my petite filles 'ave no grand-père. Have I answered your question 'arry ?"

"Oui Madame, Merci."

"Très bon. Now the reason that we 'ave asked you to come tonight is related to this. As you know, we 'ave all been very worried about 'ow Fleur can compete in the second task of this Tournament safely, because you 'ave shown us that she failed to complete it last time because of what being underwater does to a Veela, and she was more developed magically then..."

Harry nodded and she continued.

"There is only one way that a Veela can significantly increase her power without waiting for it to develop naturally, that is to perform a bonding ritual with a powerful wizard that 'er Veela side has chosen, such as Apolline did with Louis. This is both faster and more powerful than normal Veela bonds with wizards, and there are some benefits to the mate as well as the Veela….."

" 'arry, Fleur's Veela chose 'er mate last August when she met 'im at the World Cup, but there were some serious problems with that, the biggest being that 'e already had a mate, more than one in fact, because there were two that she could recognise at the time. We are talking about you of course 'ere 'arry. Soon after that though, you and 'ermione showed that you are more than just powerful, you are incredibly caring as well, because with 'ermione's agreement, you added my petite filles to your betrothed to protect Fleur, and Gabrielle, from those who would prey on Veela."

"When I met you last November and saw you together though, I found that you did not just 'ave bonds with 'ermione and Millicent as Fleur 'ad said, you 'ad bonds to _all_ of your betrothed, _including_ my petite filles, and I believe that I saw links to familiers as well?"

Harry nodded. "Oui Madame we have six familiars, four Mingwas called Bastet, Crookshanks, Li Shou and Hecate, a Phoenix called Fawkes and a very special owl called Hedwig."

"Incredible! And all of you are linked to all of your familiers?"

"Oui."

She whispered in awe. "Très bon."

"I must explain more about the Veela bonds 'arry. You see Fleur was 'eartbroken when she discovered that her Veela had chosen you, because normally a Veela may only have a one on one bond with a wizard, so when she saw your bonds to 'ermione and Millie, she was certain that she would not be able to bond with you, but after you were betrothed to her and our peu Gabrielle and she spent time with all of you, she _'as_ bonded to you, all of you. Somehow Gabrielle 'as also bonded with you in the limited time she 'as 'ad with you."

Anne looked at her daughter and granddaughters before she went on. "What most do not know is that we _do_ have records of Veela bonds to those who are bonded to others, such as one of a pair of twins, and wizards with familiars as well, and in those circumstances, to varying degrees the Veela will also bond to those 'er chosen mate is bonded with and they will also benefit from this bond and change to some degree. What 'as been observed is that wizards and witches bonded with the Veela's mate by something like a twin bond become more powerful and their links with the mate become far more than they could ever be before. Familiers are generally elevated, they become more intelligent, their abilities are enhanced and the links with them are enhanced as well…. So all that are bonded to the Veela's mate benefit from the bonding in some way…."

"Now 'arry, I am aware that you, as a twelve year old boy, are not really ready for something like this, but I also know that inside of that boy, you are an eighteen year old man who was a father…."

She looked from Harry to Hermione and back. "So what I am asking is whether the man inside you can do this thing to 'elp give my petite fille a chance of surviving this second task…"

She turned to Hermione at that. "I also have two questions for you 'ermione."

She looked her in the eye. "The first is… Will you permit your mate to do this for Fleur?"

Hermione nodded with little hesitation.

"Merci Très cher. The other is related to what I said to 'arry. I know too that while you are a thirteen year old girl on the outside, you are a nineteen year old woman who 'as 'ad a child herself on the inside. This multiple bonding that you all 'ave is unique as far as I know, but our world does 'ave a 'istory of wizards taking on a number of wives for the 'ouses that they control. When this 'appens, there is usually a 'ierarchy in the relationship, controlled by the primary wife…."

She looked around Harry's betrothed. "I believe that 'ermione would be the primary wife for this famille if you do all end up marrying 'arry, Non?"

There was a mix of nods, 'Yes'es and 'Oui's, but none hesitated. Anne nodded. "Très bon. I understand that any of these potential marriages will be years away, as they are waiting for you all to reach your majority but…."

She looked back at Hermione. "I believe that as the primary mate, the primary wife-to-be 'ermione, you should seal your bond with 'arry before Fleur bonds with 'im, as this should 'elp stop her Veela trying to establish dominance over the group."

Fleur looked aghast. "Grand-mère!"

Ann put her arms around her. "This is not you Très cher. It is what your Veela will do when it is awakened. Your Veela will not be a jeune femme like you Très cher, it will be a guerrier seeking to conquer and control. This is what we must do to prevent it 'arming your famille when it first wakes."

She looked back at Hermione. "Will you agree to this 'ermione?"

Hermione nodded slowly, deep in thought. "Oui, this makes sense, and I have used the argument that we're older on the inside myself with the others when we told them the truth about us. Harry and I had been planning on waiting on this until we were older, but as you say, it will help strengthen the structure of our family… Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. I know that we wanted to wait, but what Madame Lafitte says makes sense."

Anne retorted. " 'arry! We are family! Grand-mère, please! And that applies to all of you!"

Harry nodded with a smile. "Pardon, Grand-mère."

Harry looked around at the thoughtful and concerned faces in the room. "Does anyone have anything to say about this?"

Andi spoke up. "I agree that what's been said here makes sense, it's just, I look at you and I still see the baby that your mother and I would laugh over as you played, I can't _**see**_ the man who is making such good and sound choices for his family. I'm sorry Harry, but it's just so hard to reconcile the two men in you when I'm trying to be the mother that Lily didn't get to be." She started to cry at that and Harry went over to put his arms around her and comfort her.

Alastor spoke up then. "Aye Lass, I don't see you as a baby, but I do look at you and see the little girl who accepted me to be her father in this world, so it's hard to listen to the brilliant woman that you are agreeing that having sex with your laddie is the only logical move to help control the raging Veela who will be part of your family once yon bonding ceremony is completed."

He looked at Fleur. "Sorry Lass, I mean no disrespect, but that's what I was hearing when your grandmother was describing it."

Fleur waved the apology away. "Non, you are right, that is what my Grand-mère said, and I must admit that I am frightened about that too."

She looked at Hermione. "I too see the little girl when I look at you 'ermione, even though I can _see_ that you are much more mature and powerful than most adult witches and wizards. I am so sorry that you must do this before you are ready because of me."

Hermione went to her to hug her. "Shush! It's not because of you, it's because of those bastards who forced you and Harry into this damned Tournament!" She smiled at her. "And to tell you the truth, I've been tempted to go further some nights when Harry was getting me worked up with the way he was kissing me, so maybe I am ready for it after all."

That got a small laugh out of Fleur, and Millie piped up. "Was this when the of two you were alone, or when I was in the bed with you?"

Hermione grinned at her. "Both!"

Millie shook her head with a smile. "I don't know whether to be glad that I'm a sound sleeper or not." She turned serious suddenly. "But that may explain some of the dreams that I've been having..."

Harry and Hermione looked stricken at that but she shook her head and started to smile. "No! No, they were _nice_ dreams!"

 _That_ changed their upset to smiles.

As there were no more comments or questions, Harry turned to Anne. "So when and where should we do this Grand-mère?"

She looked between Harry and Hermione. "If you are ready?" they both nodded.

"Then the sooner the better, as Fleur will need time to get 'er Veela settled down once she has been awoken. You should also 'ave your familiers 'ere, as they will be effected by your bondings, certainly by your's with Fleur 'arry, but I believe that they may be by your's and 'ermione's as well."

Millie got up at that and went to the Delacours' trunk to bring their familiars across from Hogwarts via the trunk floo. Alastor had had to organise another big purchase of the trunks with the floos, because the initial twenty had been quickly used up as their family grew. After much debate he had arranged for another twenty, in hope that they wouldn't have to get any more. This was because the owners of the shop had to be obliviated of all details of the deal again, with just a note from themselves to explain that they'd done a very large deal and had agreed to be obliviated so that they knew nothing about what it was or who it was with to explain why the money in their vaults had grown by so much.

When she got back with their familiars, Hermione was discussing her misconception about Anne and Apolline's strange looks on the day of the first task, and how she'd thought that it was something to do with the magic number seven. That prompted a spirited discussion about the possible ramifications of this, and even more about the fact that if the familiars were added in, they also made up the magic number thirteen.

Harry and Hermione went off with Anne to prepare for their bonding ritual. This was rather more formal than they'd been expecting, but she explained that this form of the ritual should strengthen the bond between them and therefore allow them to control Fleur's Veela better.

The rest of them knew exactly when their bond had been sealed, because the betrothed and their familiars all felt the changes coming through their links and effecting them. They'd forgotten to warn the Delacours or the Greengrasses about the Mngwa transformations though, so when the four cats suddenly turned into ferocious donkey sized monsters because they were unsettled by the unfamiliar sensations of the bonding, it caused some problems. The fact that Apolline transformed into her Veela form when she was surprised by the Mngwas made it even harder to settle the Mngwas down.

When Harry and Hermione came back, they were radiating peace and happiness and this was enough to settle everyone's frazzled nerves. After a kiss for Hermione and the rest of the girls and a bit of attention for their familiars, Harry and Fleur went off with Anne, but _this_ bonding did not go as planned.

 _ **Mature concepts start.**_

Just as he had before, Harry was drawing on both eighteen year old Harry, who had had to satisfy a very demanding Ginny, and the twelve year old Harry who loved kissing and cuddling Hermione, and it was going nicely until they reached their climax, and then an incredible blast of magical energy seemed to rip everything apart.

After what seemed to be an eternity but Anne said had only been fifteen minutes, Harry came to with Fleur in his arms. He could see the healing marks on his body from where he had been clawed when Fleur had transformed into her Veela form, and his head felt like it was about to explode. From the extent of Anne's relief when he opened his eyes, it wasn't hard to work out that she had feared that he would not, so he croaked. "What happened?"

She cried out. " 'arry!" and rushed to the bed to hug him. When she had settled down enough, she tried to explain.

"You know 'ow I said that Veela bondings such as mine could happen only once every two or three 'undred years, if that, and that there 'ad only been a 'andful of them in our entire history?"

Harry nodded carefully, afraid that his head might fall off if he was too vigorous.

"Well it was less than forty years until the next one this time, and you are the first wizard to ever survive this type of bonding according to our records."

At that point, the door burst open and Hermione ran in, closely followed by the rest of the girls and their familiars. They'd all known the moment that Harry had woken up, so they had followed their links to him. After they'd all kissed him and made sure he was OK, Hermione turned to Anne and asked if they were OK. Anne started to repeat what she'd said to Harry but Hermione waved that away. "We all heard when you told Harry that Grand-mère. Are they _alright_?"

Now that she'd settled down a little, Anne could use her talents to check them over and confirm that they were, as she could see that none of them appeared to have been harmed even though all of them were several times more powerful now, the links between the betrothed and the familiers were all much stronger, and…. Her eyes widened. These women, _and_ Harry, they _all_ had Veela magic now!

That was when she realised just what had happened. Harry had not been burnt out by the destructive outburst of excess magic when Fleur transformed into the elder Veela form like every other Veela's mate had been in these bondings, because somehow that excess magic had been shared with their five other mates and their six familiers through their links. The unique size of their bonding had had enough capacity to save Harry, and in doing so it had turned them all into something that as far as she knew had not been seen before. She had not heard of anyone being _turned_ into Veela before, let alone a wizard!

She looked at the familiers speculatively at that and Hermione turned to look at her. "Bastet says it's rude to stare Grand-mère but yes, they have all been enhanced in the way you described, only far more so, just as we were. The energy that came over us was incredible! How much damage was done by these transformations without all of that excess energy being absorbed? From what we felt, we could tell that it was considerable!"

Anne answered distractedly as she examined the rapidly improving Harry and Fleur. "There are not many records of the transformations before mine Très cher, but when I bonded with 'enri, I destroyed the cottage we were in. The outburst of energy when I transformed killed 'enri and the Veela who were supervising the transformation and destroyed the building itself." A tear started and rolled down her cheek as she remembered killing her mate and her mother, among others. Hermione understood what she was upset about and stepped up to put her arms around her, Anne collapsed into her arms and they stood like this until Fleur groaned.

A significant part of what had slowed Fleur's revival was the battle that had been raging between Harry, Hermione and Fleur's Veela for control over their bond, as it had taken them a while to get the Veela to submit to their dominance. All three of them were grateful for Anne's insistence that Harry and Hermione perform their bonding ritual first, because without that, they weren't sure that they would have been strong enough to prevail.

As soon as Fleur's eyes opened, she sought out Harry, Hermione and Gabi, then looked at the others in turn to confirm that they were all OK. Once Anne had checked Fleur and satisfied herself that she was indeed OK, they headed back to the rest of their families, because they knew that they would be worried.

Their parents and guardians rushed up to see how they were the moment the walked into the room. They'd been panicking from the moment the girls and the familiars had been knocked out by the bonding, and then they all came to and ran/flew out, obviously headed to where Harry and Fleur were, so they were relieved to see that they all appeared to be OK.

It wasn't until Anne explained that the bonding that Fleur had had with Harry was the same kind as she had had with her mate that the parents and guardians began to understand what was going on. Apolline was too shocked as she stared at her daughter to remember to speak in English. _"_ _ **How?**_ _This bonding has only ever occurred every few centuries, how can it have occurred again so soon?_ _A_ _nd how is Harry still alive?_ "

Anne said that she did not know why Fleur's bonding had taken this form, or how it had occurred again so soon, to her own granddaughter no less, but she explained what she believed to be the reason that Harry had survived. Waving her hand at the betrothed and their familiars, she said. " _This_ is why 'arry survived! With so many bonds to 'is betrothed and their familiars, 'arry was able to share the energy that was being channelled into 'im by Fleur's transformation with all of them. They are _all_ far more powerful than they were before, and Très cher, they 'ave Veela powers too!"

That had Apolline staring at her in shock, because she knew as well as her mother that no-one had ever been _turned_ into a Veela before. " _ **Impossible!**_ Veela are _born! Not_ created!"

"Oui, and yet it has happened! The only thing that I can think of is that the massive amounts of Veela magic that were flooding into them infused their very souls with it and gave them the powers of the Veela, but look at them yourself fille, you will see what I see!"

Apolline did as her mother bid, and she saw that the magic of these women, _and_ Harry, was indeed showing distinctly Veela traits. She also saw that, as her mother had said, they were all _much_ more powerful than they had been before. She examined her ten year old daughter with particular care, and saw that she was more powerful than most adult Veela, she might even be more powerful than her own mother! She was also showing traits that she should not have had until after the change, when she reached her maturity. Apolline had to wonder what the cost of trying to protect their eldest daughter was going to be, but she conceded that the changes had not seemed to have harmed Gabrielle, or any of them, in any way.

The Greengrasses were worried about the fact that Harry and Hermione had become sexual at such a young age, and what effect that would have on the rest of the girls. Harry, Hermione and Anne reminded them that _on the inside,_ they weren't the children that they could see, and that this had been a once off occurrence dictated by the obvious need to do something to mitigate the very real risks to Fleur. They also pointed out that there would be no need for the others to be involved in anything of this nature until they had reached the age when they were mature enough to be ready for it. Hermione summed it up for them.

"There is no need for any of the other girls to be involved in this side of things before they're ready, and Harry and I will be waiting until then to do more as well. Partly because we found that our bodies weren't really ready for it yet, but also because we can't do anything without involving the others..."

That of course prompted questions about what she meant by that and Hermione blushed, so Daphne answered for her. "What she means is that at the moment, we _all_ see and feel everything any of us do. These links between us are like being in each other's heads, so if Hermione and Harry did anything, it would be like all of us doing it. We'll be trying to work out how to tone that down obviously, because I at least will go mad if I have to be part of everything everyone is doing, but even when we do, an experience like that would come through, and they have said that they won't do that to us before we're ready."

 _ **Mature concepts end.**_

That statement generated a stunned silence as the others tried to envisage what their children were experiencing at the moment, but they couldn't imagine what it would be like.

The next point was raised by Apolline. "Maman? You said that Fleur has had the same type of bonding as you did?"

Anne nodded. "Oui."

"Then she is pregnant?"

Anne nodded again, but this raised something else she needed to explain to her petit fille. "Fleur, Très cher. There is something that Veela 'ave that you need to know 'ow to use now. You see we can put the pregnancy on 'old, in stasis, when it starts, and keep it that way until we are ready for it to proceed. What you need to do is this..." She then proceeded to talk Fleur through the process to put her pregnancy on hold until she was able to deal with it, which would be after this damned Tournament was finished.

The others smiled as they watched Hermione soaking up the process as well, as she'd never neglect a chance to learn something new, and if it worked for them, this was something that most women would love to have access to, to have some control over what was happening to their bodies. Harry in particular knew that she was thinking of what had happened to her in the last cycle, when she had been forced to go through her NEWTs at the end of the second trimester of her pregnancy, if she wasn't so incredible she would have failed them and labelled herself a failure because of that.

* * *

After the two bondings, and the changes that they had wreaked on all of them, all of the betrothed needed rest to recover and assimilate those changes, so all of them except for Gabrielle headed straight back to Hogwarts. They left Hecate to stay with Gabi, to protect and anchor her. At least it wasn't like Gabi was alone now, because she could speak to any of them in her head. As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, they connected to her to make sure that they still could, and it was as if she was just in the next room.

They all slept in quite late the next morning, and weren't good for much for a day or two as they were adjusting to the changes that they were trying to assimilate. The girls had another problem that hadn't occurred to them before, they were _all_ radiating the Veela allure now, so they were attracting a lot more unwanted attention from the boys in the school. They weren't sure whether Harry was showing the allure as well, because many girls at the school had already been following him about, but the attention did seem to have increased.

This meant that for the next few days, they were concentrating on learning how to control the allure, and using their occlumency skills to keep their thoughts to themselves except when they chose to contact the others. Trying to teach this to their recently elevated familiars was a fun exercise too.

Luckily, they managed to master this within a week, so they had some privacy in their own thoughts again. They used their links to Gabi to teach her what she needed to get control of her thoughts and allure as well. One side benefit of this process was that in the course of it, they developed a much better way of controlling the Veela allure than anything anyone had ever come up with before.

There was considerable interest in the Veela communities in Fleur, as the second Elder Veela transformation in less than forty years, Harry, as the first mate to ever survive the Elder Veela transformation, and the rest of them, as the first _turned_ Veelas.

While they were discussing these aspects, something came up about the allure and the girls turned it up to show that they had it, because there had been no sign of it before. No Veela had ever been able to completely turn off the allure before, so this was astounding. At first the other Veela put this down to the fact that the girls weren't 'real' Veela, until Fleur, Apolline and Anne demonstrated it as well, and they were suddenly clamouring to learn how to do this, because it would make Veelas' lives much easier to not have to deal with the effects of the allure.

In fact, they could hide the very fact that they _were_ Veela from most people without the allure, and that would take away many of their problems. As they were discussing this, Apolline made a note to contact her cousin and start getting those Veela who were serving as mascots for the Bulgarian Quidditch teams trained in this method of controlling the allure, because once they could control it, they could get away from those roles and everything that happened to them there.

* * *

Once they had found their feet, Fleur tried operating underwater again, and she was a lot happier when she found that she now had the power to do this capably, at least as well as Krum and Flint would. She was a little jealous of Harry though, because his solution for this task was to use his metamorphmagus talent to transform himself into a Merman, and the increase in magic that he had gained from bonding with her meant that this transformation was near instantaneous now.

Harry had had a dragon skin tunic that reached to mid-thigh made up for this that gave him the freedom to change from two legs to a Merman's tail and back without problem. One benefit of the fact that his clothes etc weren't transfigured with him this way as they were in his animagus transformation was that he could still carry his wands at the ready, and the tunic he wore had pockets to carry things like gillyweed and goggles for Hermione (or whoever they managed to grab for his hostage) in case she woke while she was still underwater, and swim fins for Gabi as well if the bastards found some way to drag her into this.

Fleur, and Gabi if she woke underwater, could not use the gillyweed, because it didn't work the same way for half-humans like Veela as it did for humans, so they'd have to use the bubblehead charm like most witches and wizards, and Hermione had put them onto the muggle invention of swim fins so that they could swim faster than an unaided human.

Harry had already checked a few times, disillusioned and in Merman form, to confirm that the Merpeople's village was still where it had been last time, and that it was not moving, he'd check again closer to the second task. This was a distinct advantage, because if they went straight to the village, they could get their hostages and be back well inside the hour time limit that was specified.

He didn't mention this to anyone else to save them worrying, but he has expecting the Ministries to try something to ensure that his and Fleur's hostages didn't survive, like setting the stasis period for them to expire half an hour before the hour was meant to run out. He didn't believe that they would set it to end too early, because the Merpeople would probably work out that something was wrong and try to save them if it was too obvious. If the stasis failed when they were trying to rescue them, or after they'd rescued them from the village however, it would be up to _them_ to save their hostages. In an unfamiliar environment under the lake, and while they were fighting off the Merpeople or tired after fighting them off, there would be little chance that they'd be able to save them. That was why he was taking whatever he could for the hostages, because he was expecting them to need it.

Harry had had to make another change since he bonded to Fleur, his wands. The increase in magic that he'd gained in that experience was now overpowering his Holly wand, so he contacted Garrick Ollivander to see what could be done about the problem. Garrick had observed the positive changes that the young Lord Potter had brought about for Magical Britain and knew that he had many against him, so he willingly took the oath to ensure that he could not speak of this to anyone. He was also excited about the project that had been brought to him.

Garrick advised him to only use his original Holly wand for light work, while he looked into something that could handle the incredible power that he now wielded. A couple of weeks later, Garrick came to Hogwarts, terribly excited. What he had been doing was tracing the path of the Elder Wand, which was known as the most powerful wand ever created. The reason that he was so excited was that he had found that the last holder of the Elder Wand had been Albus Dumbledore, so it should be in his effects that had been put away when he was imprisoned. Legend had it that the wand's owner must be defeated for it to change to its new master, but that shouldn't be too difficult with the power that Harry had.

He launched into the story of the history of the Elder Wand but Harry stopped him almost straight away. "Did you say that the Elder Wand was created for the House of Peverell?"

"Well yes, but..."

Harry held up a finger to stop him. "Let's see whether it accepts the Head of the House of Peverell as its master then, shall we?"

With that he stood and put his hand out. "Elder Wand, I, Lord Henry James Peverell, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell, claim you as your rightful owner and master!"

There was a flash, and the wand appeared in his hand. As he felt it come alive, there was no question that it had accepted him as its master. They went off to find somewhere that he could test the Elder Wand properly, and it did indeed appear capable of handling whatever he put though it.

Garrick was awestruck and enthralled by the display of power that Harry had been putting on when he was testing the Elder Wand, as he had seen what Albus Dumbledore had done with it at his most powerful, and he had only shown a fraction of the power that Harry was showing.

With that settled, Harry took to carrying a wand on each wrist in disillusioned holsters, still using his Holly Wand for most things, but using the Elder Wand when more power was needed. While Garrick was there, he had him test everyone else's wands as well, but they were all holding up OK to their increased power, even Fleur's. While Garrick was under oath never to reveal any of this to anyone, Harry asked him whether the fact that the Veela hair that formed the core of Fleur's wand was from one of the extremely rare and powerful Elder Veelas, who were much more powerful than other Veela, was likely to be the reason that it could handle more power than most wands? Garrick was excited by this news, and he agreed that the hair of someone as powerful as he described was quite likely to be able to handle more power than most other core materials.

Harry thanked him for his assistance and Garrick went back to his shop a happy man, he had helped the saviour of his country, located and observed the Elder Wand being used to its true potential, and he had learned something that few witches or wizards knew about Veela, that there were some who were far more powerful than the rest. He couldn't do anything with this knowledge, but like Hermione, and Harry and most of the others now, he valued knowledge for knowledge's sake, so Harry Potter had done him a great boon in this.

* * *

On the morning of the second task, they thought that they'd managed to beat the Ministries, but suddenly strange elves turned up during breakfast in the Great Hall to grab Hermione, and Gabrielle in Delacour Chateau at the same time, and they both disappeared.

Harry and the others could feel them down at the lake, and when he realised what the bastards had done, Harry strode straight up to the High Table and told Abbot. "The Second Task will start now!"

Abbott smirked at him. "You may think that you are so important that you can dictate everything Potter, but you are not! The task will start at nine as was planned!"

The Elder Wand dropped into Harry's hand as he roared. _**"The task will start now!"**_ and he punctuated that by blasting the table in front of Abbott apart. He then swung the wand to point it at Lestrange, and then Bagman, and repeated. "The task will start now!"

Bagman spluttered his agreement and ran from the hall as fast as he could. Harry turned back to Abbott, who was now rolling on the floor in pain and said in a voice that carried to everyone in the Great Hall. "If any harm befalls either of them, anything at all! I will ensure that the houses of those responsible, and every member of those houses, are utterly destroyed!"

Amelia, Louis and squads of British and French Aurors ran into the Great Hall as Harry gave that warning to Abbott, and they watched him grab Fleur and pop out to the Tower using Elf Magic. Harry sent Fleur to change into what she would be wearing for the task while he did the same, and when she was ready he took her arm again and popped her down to the deck on the lake where the task was starting from.

Bagman was staggering up with Krum and Flint (they weren't about to risk being judged as not having participated in the task) as they arrived, and Amelia, Minerva, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff and Krakov weren't far behind. Harry cast a spell to enhance his vision and saw that the Aurors were dragging Abbott and Lestrange down to the lake as well.

When she saw that all four Champions were present, Amelia cast a sonorous and announced. "The head and betrothed of Magical Britain's Noble and Most Ancient Houses and the daughter of the Deputy Minister for Magic for France and betrothed of the Noble and Ancient House of Flamel have been illegally kidnapped and put at risk of their lives by being forced to be part of this task. I am therefore overriding the organisers of this Tournament and starting this task _**now**_ so that they can be rescued!" She nodded to Bagman. "Start the task!" Bagman didn't say a word, he just raised his wand and set off a blast.

* * *

Harry dropped his robes, but waited for Fleur to pull on her swim fins, cast the bubble headcharm and dive into the lake before he followed, changing into a Merman as he did so. He was going to lead her to the Merpeople's village, but they could both feel where Hermione and Gabi were, so she told him to go ahead and make sure they were OK.

Fleur was still in sight when Krum and Flint dove into the lake, but Flint had just cast the bubblehead charm, and Krum obviously hadn't thought out the partial transformation into a shark he did, because he had transformed his _top_ half, not his bottom half. That meant that with the swim fins and all the practice she'd put in over the past six months, Fleur quickly left them behind. She also knew to stay away from the growth on the bottom where the grindylows were lurking _and_ where she was going, so the other two had no chance of catching her.

Harry reached the Merpeople's village well ahead of Fleur and the others, and saw that his suspicion that the Ministries would be doing everything possible to get at them was correct. The other two hostages were Sophia Balfour and Tamara Powers, as he'd expected (those two didn't care about anyone, so taking these two girls to the Yule Ball was the closest thing to a commitment that either of them had done in ages), but none of the Mermen were anywhere near them, they were all clustered around Hermione and Gabi, poking them with their spears. Neither of the girls appeared to have any serious injuries, but they were both covered with stab wounds and there was plenty of blood in the water around them.

The Elder Wand appeared in his hand as if of its own accord and he started casting reducto blasting spells at the Mermen poking spears at the girls. In his anger, most of those Mermen were blown apart, and he then turned the wand on the rest of the Merpeople, blasting them away from the girls with massively overpowered banishing charms, casting them well beyond the bounds of the village. Many of them would have doubtless been injured by that, but at that moment he did not care.

Once the area around them was clear, he cast severing charms to release all four girls from the statue they were tethered to, because he couldn't leave the other girls there. He applied sticking charms to hold them all together, and then he grabbed onto Hermione and Gabi and cast an overpowered non-verbal flying charm on the girls, calling to Fleur through their link to tell her turn around and go back as they shot up out of the village.

'Riding' an extremely irregular object that's made up of four girls stuck together through the water at high speed isn't easy, but people had always said that Harry was the best natural flyer that they'd ever seen, and it was the fastest way to get them out of there. When they came up on Fleur, he slowed down enough for her to grab on, so that she wasn't left behind. Krum and Flint also turned back when they saw the strange object flying past them at high speed in the water.

The sight of the five girls and Harry coming up out of the water caught the attention of everyone, though most missed Harry changing back to his human form as they left the water. He put the four girls down on the deck as gently as he could and cancelled the sticking charms.

Amelia had called for Poppy as soon as she saw all the blood, but Poppy had the other two girls taken out of the way as soon as she realised that the blood on them had all come from Hermione and Gabrielle. It didn't take Poppy long to report that Harry's initial impression had been basically correct, neither of them were seriously injured but they had lost a lot of blood from the stab wounds they had all over them. Try as they might, they also couldn't find any way to cancel the stasis spells over the girls.

Krakov offered what he thought was the counter-spell, but it did nothing, and Abbott and Lestrange were saying that they did not know either until Harry pointed the Elder Wand at Abbott's face and told him that he had ten seconds to give them the counter-spell. Abbott hesitated as he counted down through four of those seconds and then blurted it out. Minerva cast the spell on Tamara, and as she started to wake, she pushed Poppy aside and cast it on Hermione and Gabi. As an afterthought she remembered to cast the spell on Sophia as well.

* * *

Just as Hermione and Gabi were being helped to their feet to be taken away for proper treatment, the waters around the deck boiled as the rest of the Merpeople surfaced, brandishing spears and demanding that the murderer of their people be turned over to them for justice. At that point, Harry was ready to kill the rest of the Merpeople as well for what had been done to Hermione and Gabi, so he stalked to the edge of the deck and started shouting at the Merpeople's Chieftainess in Mermish.

" _You get nothing until I get justice for the attack on my mates!"_ He waved at the bloodstained figures of Hermione and Gabi, being supported by the other girls. _"Your people attacked and injured_ _my **mates**_ _wh_ _o_ _were innocent_ _and unwilling_ _part_ _s_ _of this task and they were_ _ **defenceless!**_ _If they had been injured any more than they were, I would have wiped out the rest of you, and I may do so yet!"_

The Chieftainess was beginning to wonder what was going on here. _"_ _ **No!**_ _They are convicted criminals who are to be put to death! That was why they were being used as bait in this contest!"_

She didn't know much about humans, but she recognised a predator that was about to attack when she saw one, so she pulled back from the deck when this small human's gaze changed. His voice grew quieter but the menace increased as he spoke again. _"_ _Who_ _told you this?_ _ **Him?**_ _"_ He pointed at Abbott.

 _"No, the ones we normally deal with from your Ministry."_

" _Do you know what human children look like?"_

" _No? We do not deal with your kind! Why would we know what you look like?"_

Harry pointed at the Ministry officials, Bagman, Minerva, Madame Maxime, Amelia, Louis and the British and French Aurors. _"_ _ **They**_ _are_ _what_ _adults in ou_ _r_ _world_ _look like_ _!"_ He then pointed at Hermione and Gabi with the rest of their group around them. _"_ _ **They**_ _are children! Your people attacked and injured innocent_ _ **children**_ _,_ _ones_ _who are also bonded to_ _ **me**_ _! You were lied to by the humans you talked to, but that does_ _ **not**_ _relieve you_ _or your people_ _of the guilt of injuring my innocent mates!"_

He waved Amelia and Kingsley over. _"You will work with_ _ **the**_ _ **se**_ _humans and identify_ _ **every**_ _human who was involved in putting my mates in your village and tell them_ _ **exactly**_ _what you were told to do to them, and if I am not satisfied that you have met my requirements I will return and destroy_ _ **every**_ _Merperson in your village! As you have attacked my mates, who are children,_ _ **your**_ _children will not be safe from me if I am not satisfied. Do you understand?"  
_

 _ **This**_ was something that she could understand, a warrior who was prepared to extract retribution for what had been done to his family. She nodded. _"Yes, I understand. We have harmed what is your's and you demand retribution. I will deal with these humans and give them the answers you require. Do you want the other two humans back?"_

Harry nodded disinterestedly. _"Yes, we require them to be returned alive."_

She nodded again. _"It will be done."_

* * *

Hermione had cast the Rosetta translation spell over Amelia and the others when Harry started shouting at the Chieftainess, so Amelia had heard and understood nearly everything that was said in Mermish, including the fact that someone at the Ministry, the Creatures Department from what she said, had told the Merpeople that Hermione and Gabrielle were convicted criminals who were to be put to death, so they could do what they wanted to them. She wasn't happy with what Harry had said, but she wasn't going to say anything at the moment, because a) that would undermine what he'd somehow gotten the Chieftainess to agree to; and b) Harry wanted to kill someone at the moment and she didn't want to risk setting him off.

Harry popped Hermione and Gabi straight into the Infirmary, leaving it to others to bring everyone else. By the time Poppy was brought in, Harry had transfigured a bed to be big enough for the three of them and Fleur. He gave Poppy room to treat the girls but he and Fleur climbed into bed with them to hold them as soon as she was done. Poppy couldn't have separated them if she wanted to, and she was pretty sure that this was what they needed at the moment, so she cast privacy shields around the bed and left them to look after each other. The three Mngwas had also arrived somehow and were curled up on the foot of the bed as well.

Their bed was surrounded with goblin guards and British and French Aurors who were quietly talking about how Lord Potter had forced the Merpeople's Chieftainess to assist with the investigation into what had happened here, and the threat they'd heard him give Abbott that any houses who were involved with this in any way would be completely destroyed. The British Aurors had been looking at Flint as they said that, and he couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Madam Pomfrey kicked Krum out soon after him, but the other two girls were kept in overnight to make sure that there were no after effects from what they had gone through.


	9. Charges, Pests, Tasks and Trials

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

Harry and the four girls who had been the hostages all slept around the clock. They understood Harry's exhaustion easily enough after the girls looked into the memories of what he had done under the lake (they had discovered that a side effect of their bond was that it allowed them to look into the minds of any in the bond if they pushed enough, even if they were unconscious), because they discovered just how much magical energy he had expended blasting everyone in the Merpeople's village away, far past the bounds of the village. In effect that had required the rapid displacement of a couple of cubic kilometres of water, which took an incredible amount of energy, and blasting apart those Mermen and getting them all out of the lake had used up a lot of energy too.

They couldn't work out why the girls were so drained though, not until they looked into Hermione and Gabrielle's memories and questioned Abbott and Lestrange. That was when they discovered that they had underestimated just how far these people would go. The spells that had been cast over the girls weren't stasis spells, not primarily anyway, the _primary_ purpose of those spells had been to drain their magic away until they died.

They had extracted the truth from Abbott and Lestrange, that they only had those counter-spells in case the other two girls were recovered before they died, and therefore they needed to cancel the spells to avoid too many questions. The plan had been to blame whoever died on Harry and his supporters, and what had happened to any who lived on something that Harry did. The usage and intent of these spells was quite enough to sentence Abbott, Lestrange and anyone else involved to death under the laws that Minerva had told Karkaroff and everyone else in the Great Hall about, because while they'd try to argue that that didn't apply to Gabrielle, the fact that she was betrothed to Harry was enough to ensure that it _did_.

The same applied to anyone who had been involved in the kidnapping of Hermione and Gabrielle by those house elves, and giving those instructions to the Merpeople as well, because the Merpeople had been instructed to kill Hermione and Gabi, but not until _after_ the ones who came to rescue them had arrived, and that they were to kill _all_ of them because their rescuers were convicted criminals as well. Harry _obviously_ came under the laws Minerva mentioned, and Fleur qualified just as Gabi did.

* * *

By the time they woke, Amelia and Kingsley had arrested all of the ones in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' Beasts Division who the Merpeople's Chieftainess had identified as the ones who gave her the instructions, and Fudge's Senior Undersecretary, Marcus Somerset, as well, because Abbott and the ones arrested in the Beasts Division had all testified that their orders had come from him.

Somerset had had a long career in the Ministry, and he had headed up the Beasts Division before he took over the Department for International Magical Co-operation from Crouch. When this was put together with Minerva's comments about Somerset telling Fudge what to say when they forced her to accept that Hogwarts _would_ be participating in the Triwizard Tournament, and that it _would_ be hosted at Hogwarts, Somerset's involvement here identified him as a major player in whatever was going on behind the scenes, so he was a bigger prize than the rest of them put together.

Marcus Flint's father had also been arrested as a result of what they got out of Martin Abbott, because he had been an active participant in their plan to use the Tournament to remove Harry as a thorn in the side of the people who were behind Fudge and the traditionalist factions. Marcus had been questioned as well and he had already confirmed _his_ involvement, but he hadn't been arrested as yet. This was only because they wanted him alive for the trials and they knew that he would die if they expelled and arrested him before the Tournament finished.

Rufus Scrimgeour was another one who had been arrested for his part in this, he had been angry about losing his position and status and wanted to get back at them. Possibly the only good aspect of this was that as soon as he was in custody, they managed to get Arthur assigned as Ginny's guardian and he placed her with the mind healers at St Mungo's, so she was finally getting help for her problems. There _was_ another side benefit in this actually, as people who knew the story were impressed that Arthur would take responsibility for the child that his ex-wife had borne to another man when she cuckolded him, just so that he could get the girl the help she needed.

These investigations went on for several weeks, with the Ministers for Britain and France constantly demanding that the charges against Abbott, Lestrange, Somerset and the others be dropped and that they be released. The Aurors of both Britain and France managed to use the confessions that they'd already gotten out of them and the fact that it was an on-going investigation to ignore these demands and keep all of them hidden away though.

As the previous head of France's equivalent of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Louis Delacour had their Aurors on his side, but even though Nicholas Flamel had formally allocated the voting proxies for the original Noblesse Ancienne House of Flamel to Louis in the French equivalent of the Wizengamot, due to the prevalent anti-Veela sentiment Louis didn't have enough support to effectively oppose their Ministre de la Magie there. That was why they were handling this case in Britain, using the arguments that most of the crimes had been committed in Britain as justification to keep it where they pretty much had control of the Wizengamot.

* * *

While all of this was going on, the Tournament was continuing, with Krakov and Bagman now in charge of planning and implementing the third task. The Wizengamot had voted in a new Head for the British Department or International Magical Co-operation (and voted Arthur in as the new Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic as well), but the French Ministry of Magic were still insisting that Lestrange would be returning to his post, and only Abbott, Lestrange and Krakov were recognised by the Goblet of Fire as the organisers for the tournament anyway, so there was no way of putting anyone else in charge of that.

Amelia, along with Minerva and Madame Maxime, demanded that they remove the XXXXX creatures that had been planned for the third task. Karkaroff supported the two Headmistresses's demands in an attempt to curry favour with them. Krakov and Bagman tried to argue that the plans couldn't be changed, until Amelia reminded them that Abbott and Lestrange had obviously changed the plans for the second task, and told them that the maze would be tested before the Champions entered it.

She promised them that if there was a single XXXXX creature discovered in there, _they_ would be sent into the maze in front of the Champions. Faced with this prospect, they promptly replaced the Manticore, Chimera and Acromantulas that had been planned with a Griffin, Sphinx and Mountain Trolls. This reminded Amelia and Minerva that they needed to do something about that Acromantula colony in the forbidden forest that Hagrid had told them about after St Mungo's removed the memory charms and compulsions from him. They didn't know what Dumbledore's reasoning had been for allowing the colony to remain there, right next the school and its students, but they were in agreement that there was no justification for doing so any more.

Dumbledore's intentions had obviously been questionable, even more so after Hagrid revealed that it was actually Dumbledore who had brought in Mosag, because there would have been no colony if Dumbledore hadn't supplied a mate for Aragog. Hagrid had always believed that it was he who had found Mosag and took her to Aragog, but when the memory charms had been removed from him, he remembered that it had in fact been Dumbledore who had acquired her, and then told Hagrid to ensure that she was mated to Aragog.

As Aragog had been a pet and then friend of Hagrid's for fifty years, they decided that it was only fair to give him the chance to try and talk Aragog into leaving. If Aragog and his mate agreed to take all of their progeny and leave, they'd ship them off to some remote island where they could live in peace, making it unplottable and putting Muggle repellent wards around it to keep people away.

None of them, not even Hagrid, really believed that he had any hope of achieving this, but they all agreed that they owed him the chance to try. If he failed to convince them (as they expected), or if the Acromantulas tried to harm him, every Acromantula and every egg in that colony would be destroyed.

Hagrid was shaken when he returned from the attempt to convince Aragog to take his children and leave, because it had been very touch and go whether he would be allowed to leave. With that news and the expected answer, they put their plans into action. Amelia and Gringott had teams of witches, wizards, goblins and Olog-hai (The goblins hired out their security trolls to the wizarding kind, but the Olog-hai were a secret that was generally kept to the Goblin Nation, they were strong, agile, fierce, and cunning, far more intelligent and dangerous than other trolls.) ready to go in, but they would primarily to be there to deal with whatever might escape the nest, or wasn't inside when they struck.

The actual attack on the colony was to be carried out by Harry, Hermione and Fleur (as the three most powerful in their family and with the strongest links to boot), with the other girls and their familiars feeding magic to them over their links if they needed it. After Harry acquired the Elder Wand, they had done testing with this and had discovered that the three of them working together could generate almost as much power as all seven of them together, and the Elder Wand could not handle much more than this anyway (after the massive boosts in magical energy that they had received in Fleur's bonding ritual, with the three of them multiplying each other's power as Harry and Hermione had observed that they could, they were the equivalent of at least seventy to a hundred powerful witches or wizards working together). Adding the others in did not boost the power by anywhere near as much, so there was no valid reason to put the rest of them at risk. As long as they (and the familiars) were nearby though, they could all feed magical energy to the three over their links when they needed it, and there was a good chance that they would need that, because doing this drained them very quickly.

They were using Fiendfyre to scour every trace of the Acromantulas from their nest, and as soon as the forces were in place around the nest (and around the three of them), Harry cast the Fiendfyre into the nearest entrance. More than a few of the Acromantulas were blasted out of the other entrances to the nest by the Fiendfyre and the others arrayed about the nest had to finish them off, because Harry, Hermione and Fleur were struggling to keep the Fiendfyre contained within the nest. The fire scoured out every tunnel and every chamber inside the nest, and evaporated the soil and rocks around them as well, so that over the nearly fifteen minutes they held the Fiendfyre before they banished it (to ensure that _every_ trace of the Acromantulas was gone), the surface above the nest became a deep depression as the earth settled to fill the voids that had been created.

Once they had banished the Fiendfyre and confirmed that it was finished, the three of them collapsed, as did the others, and they all spent most of the next couple days unconscious, recovering from their magical exhaustion. Hogwarts was the best place they could be for this, because Hogwarts was built on top of the intersection of a number of ley lines, so magic was always being fed into the castle. Hogwarts herself channelled more of this magical energy into their chambers in the Tower to aid their recovery.

As well as replenishing their own magic, they were pushing magic to their familiars to replenish what they had given up to their humans, because their familiars did not have the capability of replenishing the magic that they held in them. Even with Hogwarts' assistance though, it took most of them nearly two weeks to get back up to the level they were at before they wiped out the Acromantula colony, but they were functioning OK after a few days, and stretching themselves that much had increased their capacity, just as it had the other times.

* * *

Somerset had made one very interesting slip when he was being questioned, he'd used the words 'Minister' and 'her' to refer to the same person. He was a little woozy at the time because those questioning him had decided to try the good old Muggle questioning technique of beating it out of him. Perhaps it was because it was unexpected, but for whatever reason, that seemed to have worked. First he'd said. "You're nothing but Blood-traitors and Mud-bloods! Pathetic creatures like you will _never_ be capable of besting the Minister!"

But when they asked for clarification. "You mean Minister Fudge?" in hope that they finally had something to pin on Fudge, he'd snorted. "That fool? He's just in there to keep the seat warm until her plans get the point where she's ready to come back!"

Those questioning Somerset had been the same ones who had lost two of the three who knew anything about the supposed Death Eater attack at the World Cup because they'd taken oaths of secrecy on their life and magic. They had changed their tack after that, using legilimency to probe the _actual_ Death Eater's mind while asking him general questions to mask what they were doing. As a result of what they got out of the Death Eater's head that way, they had managed to arrest what were hopefully the remaining Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters in Britain and put them on trial. It had been satisfying to see most of them go through the Veil of Death for what they confessed to under Veritaserum.

They did get something else out of their time with the Death Eater, as they pulled apart the magic associated with the dark mark that the Death Eaters bore, and used what they learned from this to create something that could track and monitor prisoners, _and_ suppress their magic. This magic was permanently anchored into a large red 'A' (for Azkaban, obviously) on their wand arms, and this mark was put on anyone who was in there for anything serious enough to merit sentences of five years or more, plus any others who were deemed sufficiently questionable.

Ted had researched the legal aspects of this, and he found old laws which stated that the Director of the DMLE had the authority and responsibility to ensure that they knew where prisoners were, and what they were doing at all times. This meant that Amelia had the authority to do this without referring to Fudge or the Wizengamot and as they locked down knowledge of them with anyone involved, no-one had found about the 'Red Letter's over a year later. They had tested the Red Letters by taking prisoners out of Azkaban (under guard of course), and the Improper Use of Magic Office was able to track them and determine what they were doing the whole time.

As what Somerset was saying was very similar to comments that the Death Eater had come out with when he was talking, they immediately backed off on the nature of the questioning so they could bring in their best Legilimens to probe his thoughts, because they did _not_ want to lose what they were sure would be in his head. This paid off, because they managed to get the name of the person he was working for, and a whole lot more, out of his head without that oath of secrecy killing him. After the hint he had given them while he was woozy after a beating though, it was no great surprise to hear that the person behind all of this was in fact the previous Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold.

Apparently Bagnold had decided that the events in the wake of the First Wizarding War had created an environment that would not allow her to create the legacy that she desired for herself, and that Dumbledore had gained too much status out of the notoriety he had garnered from his part in the war as well. For this reason, she 'retired' in nineteen ninety and set it up to ensure that Fudge, a complete idiot, would take over from her as Minister.

This left her free to work behind the scenes and set everything up to eliminate all resistance to her plans for complete control of Magical Britain so that when the time came, she could make her triumphant return, have Fudge and hopefully Dumbledore executed for their criminal failures of Magical Britain and then take up the reins again, ready to lead Magical Britain into a new age of prosperity.

Her plan was all the more chilling because unless they managed to stop her, she had a good chance of pulling it off. While they had learned a good deal about her plans from Somerset though, they had nothing that could be used as evidence until she actually did something that they could catch her at.

* * *

The third task was different this time, because thanks to Harry and Hermione's memories, Minerva had had her arguments prepared when the nature of the tasks came out and Abbott _told_ her that Quidditch was being cancelled for the year at Hogwarts, and that the Quidditch pitch was being used for the third task.

Abbott and Lestrange couldn't think of any valid arguments when Minerva had proposed that an inter-school Quidditch competition be run as a secondary competition for the Tournament that involved more than just the Champions in place of Hogwarts' internal Quidditch Cup. She pointed out that cancelling all sporting interests at the school for the year, to be replaced with just _three_ events that only _four_ students would be able to participate in would have a detrimental effect on students' moral, and the other Heads of School, Krakov and Bagman agreed with her.

Given that their young Quidditch star had been the primary driver for Bulgaria's involvement, Krakov and Karkaroff had jumped at the idea, and Madame Maxime had supported her as well, because she was angry about the risk that the officials had put her student in by intentionally not telling any of the school heads about it until after the students were committed. Bagman was never going to argue against including Quidditch, so it was five against two, and Abbott and Lestrange had had no choice but to buckle.

With the agreement to continue, they had made up a Hogwarts school team out of the existing house teams to compete against the teams that were made up out of the delegations from the other two schools. When it was pointed out that they needed a fourth team, Minerva suggested that 'Harry's team (as it had been agreed that one of the champions had to play on each of the four teams) could be made up from the leftovers of all three schools so as to prevent it being a second Hogwarts team.

'Harry's team was therefore made up of three from Hogwarts, two from Beauxbatons and two from Durmstrang. They weren't expected to have a chance against the other teams, because Harry didn't play Quidditch in this cycle and the other three teams were supposedly made up of the best picks from their schools. Furthermore, Harry was the only boy on 'his' team. That was the beauty of it though, because at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, girls who wanted to play Quidditch had generally been ignored, no matter how talented they were, so 'his' team had him, a star seeker in the last cycle, and six girls who were very talented and driven to show up those who had rejected them.

Four of them had very little experience, but that could be addressed with practice to a degree, and they had Harry, Angie and Katie who knew the game well in the most active roles. Angie was made the captain of their team, and she intended to prove to Flint how much of a mistake he'd made by sneering at her and Katie when he chose the Slytherin chasers over them, though he _had_ selected Fred and George as his beaters.

The fact that Fred and George wouldn't attack Harry or their girlfriends meant that the Hogwarts team didn't have a chance against them, and the professional referee who was brought in for these matches penalised the Hogwarts team when Flint got frustrated and tried to use the usual Slytherin tactics. They wouldn't go hard against Fleur, but the captain of the Beauxbatons team had basically told her to stay out of the way of the _real_ players, and _their_ Beauxbatons girls had a point to make to _him_ , so they went down as well. Gloves were off with the Durmstrang team, and their Durmstrang girls had a similar message for their schoolmates, they got pounded.

What this all added up to was that their 'joke' team (they were called the Witches team rather than the Rowan team by most because the full name of the school Harry had been entered into the Tournament under had gotten around quickly) won the Quidditch part of the Tournament easily, and as both the Durmstrang and Hogwarts teams were all male, Fleur had had little trouble unbalancing them by turning up her allure at key moments, so Beauxbatons came in well ahead of them as well.

Even Hermione, basically anti-Quidditch as she was, had had to admit that having a Quidditch competition running along with the Tournament made things a lot more interesting for most of the students than it had been in the last cycle. They held a match each month, weather permitting, which meant that each team played once every two months and they faced every other team once, with the winners being decided by their overall points at the end of the competition.

In fact, the Quidditch portion of the Tournament went so well and had brought the students together in friendly rivalry so much that they were discussing making it into a yearly event between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They proposed one change to make it more fair with the three schools competing, they each faced the other two teams twice so that every team got to have the home pitch advantage when playing the other teams.

Having a Quidditch competition as part of the Tournament of course meant that the Quidditch pitch could not be ripped up to create the maze for the third task, and the officials couldn't think of any valid argument when Minerva asked why they couldn't just use the arena that was being created for the first task, so it was agreed that that would be the setting for the third task. This had been agreed early enough for both uses to be catered for when it was made.

She had enjoyed twisting the knife a little. "Also, this way the maze can be created without everyone seeing what it is. After all, the Quidditch pitch is in full view of the students most of the time, and I'm sure that you wouldn't want to give any of the Champions the opportunity to memorise the layout of the maze and gain an unfair advantage in the third task, now would you Mister Abbott?"

Abbot had obviously wanted to respond to that, but it had already been decided that Quidditch was staying, whether he liked it or not, so he gave up on a losing battle.

That was why all the spectators headed into the Forbidden Forest again for the third task, instead of to the Quidditch pitch as they had last cycle. This time, the entire arena was filled with a maze that was made up of fourteen to fifteen foot high hedges, and the stands had been raised high enough to allow the spectators to look down into the maze. This had been done on the basis of another suggestion of Minerva's, as she'd pointed out how uninspiring the first two tasks had been for the spectators, and how lowering the hedges and raising the stands would allow them to see what was going on in the task.

Krakov and Bagman couldn't argue with that, and though Karkaroff brought up the fact that it was Harry who had taken the spectacle out of the first task everyone had to agree that there had been _nothing_ for spectators in the idea of the second task being held on the bottom of Black Lake, and Madame Maxime added a dig that Monsieur Potter _did_ provided a spectacle there by way of getting Abbott and Lestrange arrested and his altercation with the Merpeople.

Even though Harry was the only one who had performed any significant magic in the second task, Krum and Flint were still ahead on points going into the third task, because Krakov, Bagman and Karkaroff had inflated their scores, while giving Harry and Fleur scandalously low scores. This meant that they were entering the maze before Harry and Fleur. Harry and Fleur didn't mind this though, as it meant that Krum and Flint should run into the creatures and other obstacles first.

For that matter, them going into the maze pretty much together made it easier for them to stay together and watch out for each other. After all, their only priorities for the Tournament were to meet the requirements to compete in all tasks and avoid getting hurt, so they didn't care if the other side had twisted the facts to have their boys win.

There was also the fact that, even with Voldemort and most at least of his Death Eaters gone , there were still too many similarities to the way Tournament had gone in the last cycle. That in turn meant that there was still a possibility that the first idiot to grab the cup that they had to pick up to win the Tournament could be whisked away to be used in some dark ritual, and neither Harry or Fleur had any intention of being that person.

* * *

They weren't too worried about running into the XXXX creatures in the maze, as they'd both come up against these creatures in training. Nor were they worried about the obstacles, as Krakov and Bagman would have been under orders not to put outright lethal traps in there, because Krum and Flint were supposed to survive (the Ministry didn't know that Flint was already under a pending death sentence).

Besides which, both Harry and Fleur had had the power of five or six powerful witches or wizards since the bonding ritual, and so could handle pretty much anything that came at them. They couldn't work as one as well as they could when Hermione was with them, because while she _only_ had the power of three or four powerful witches or wizards, Hermione was the main factor to the bond that let them do this. This wasn't a major issue though, because individually they had the power to do what they had to.

They were over ten minutes into the maze when they encountered the first of the creatures, and it was in a bad way. Whoever it was who had run into the Griffin (their bet was on Flint) had thrown a number of terror boosted cutting curses at it and then ran away. Harry and Fleur healed it enough to save its life, and then called for assistance. Harry called the Potter elves from Tiroedd y Frân (the Potter Estate, under its original name of Crow Lands) and told them to take the Griffin there and look after it. Luckily the way that the magic of the maze had been set up meant that the moving obstacles would vanish whatever couldn't protect itself with magic, so the disappearance of the Griffin's carcass wouldn't raise too many questions. They couldn't work out the reason for this at first, but they did when they got further into the maze.

It appeared that the obstacles in the maze were set to increase after Krum and Flint had gone through, because after they left where they found the Griffin, they seemed to encounter an obstacle around every second of third corner, and they didn't believe that the other two could have conquered most of them. Both potions and charms based obstacles were used, the potions based ones were either burnt away or sucked into conjured containers, while they disabled the charms based ones. Luckily, Krakov and Bagman obviously didn't trust Krum and Flint not to get turned around and stumble back into the obstacles that they were supposed to have passed, so the ones that Harry and Fleur dealt with still weren't immediately lethal.

The next creature that they ran into was the Sphinx, and she was in fine form because she was miffed that the last one who had encountered her had chosen to run away rather than tackle her riddle. Harry and Fleur got her message and chose to attempt her riddle. With Hermione, Millie and Daphne in their heads giving them advice, it didn't take long to solve her riddle, but rather than pass when she gave them leave, Harry had a question for _her_.

She was taken aback when Harry asked her. "Do you really want to go back and be under the control of the people who had so little respect for you that they sent you here to fill in for this contest at the last minute?" Her ire was even greater when she found out that the only reason she was here at all was that the XXXXX creatures which had been originally planned had been vetoed by the Headmistresses, the Durmstrang Headmaster and the Bulgarian official. The Sphinx was suitably pissed off by this news, and answered with a very firm. "No!" when Harry asked her again. She readily agreed to Harry's proposal to remove her to a safe place, especially when he told her that they could get her back to Egypt later if that was what she wanted. With that agreed, he called for the Potter elves again and they popped her off to Tiroedd y Frân.

Things got rather more serious after that, because they found that it was more than charms based obstacles that had been added to the maze once Krum and Flint went through, as they were suddenly facing Dementors! At first sight, Harry thought it was the Boggart that he had encountered in the maze last time, but only for a few seconds, because he soon realised that he was actually feeling the effects of a real Dementor.

The Elder Wand was in his hand before he knew it, and seconds later the maze was reverberating with the unearthly cacophony of screams that come from a dying Dementor. They had Hermione and the others immediately demanding to know what had happened and whether they were alright, which Harry and Fleur hastened to assure them that they _were_.

Hermione's insatiable thirst for knowledge had her peppering them with questions about how they had killed something that was supposed to be indestructible, until they reminded her that they were still in the maze with the rest of the obstacles and traps. They could almost _hear_ her blush over the link as she apologised and admonished them to stay safe.

Fleur dealt with the next Dementor using Veela fireballs, the kind that only a powerful Elder Veela such as her and her grandmother could generate. They alternated or worked side by side to eliminate the rest of the Dementors, because there were thirteen or fourteen all up in the maze. In between the attacks they discussed the Dementors being here and realised that this was the reason for those charms to vanish anything without magic, they were to get rid of their bodies if they managed to get caught with a Dementor's Kiss, because that would have been proof that someone at the Ministry had sent Dementors into the maze at Hogwarts when they were supposed to be kept at Azkaban, and they couldn't have anyone finding _that_ out.

They dealt with another seven or eight obstacles before they started running into the Trolls, and they were both so exhausted by then that even Hermione didn't complain when they just killed them as quickly and cleanly as they could. One of the Trolls was covered in blood, and its lack of injuries said that that blood hadn't come from another Troll.

About five minutes after they dealt with that Troll, they found where the blood had come from, Flint. Harry sent up red sparks to call help into the maze. Professors Flitwick and Hardy arrived straight away, but they were stopped by sight of the state of Flint's corpse, as it was mainly the fact that he was the only one of that size and build in the maze that made it possible to identify him.

Just then, the light show went off to signal that someone had won by taking the Triwizard Cup and the Tournament was over, but at the same time the alarms went off to warn of an unauthorised port key activation. If only took them a few minutes to get to where the cup was supposed to be and confirm that neither Krum nor the cup were there. The Aurors were already there, checking the area and in particular the spot where the cup had been, trying to discover where it and the boy holding it had been taken to.

Amelia and Kingsley had enough faith in Harry that when he told them to check the graveyard at Little Hangleton, Kingsley immediately took a squad of Aurors there without asking any questions. That was how they got there before Krum had been sacrificed or killed. Krum was taken straight to St Mungo's for treatment, and everyone else they found in the graveyard was taken into custody.

Of course, the big question was whether the ones who tried to use Krum in a ritual were _real_ wannabe Death Eaters (they were all in full Death Eater regalia), or this was another attempt at misdirection by Bagnold, setting up a new batch of fools to take the blame for whatever happened. After losing useful sources of information recently due to those secrecy oaths, the DMLE went slower than they would have liked to with their questioning, but they had to accept that as the price of getting as much as they could out of them.

* * *

As he had reached the Triwizard Cup first, Krum was proclaimed the winner of the Triwizard Tournament, so the Bulgarians got their wish to be able to use him for more publicity.

The fact that another Champion was killed in the very first run of the new supposedly _**safer**_ version of the Tournament got a new resolution passed in the ICW to reinstate the ban on the Tournament, and that ban was made _**permanent**_ this time!

The Heads of Schools' proposal to start an on-going Inter-School Quidditch Tournament was supported by the ICW's Sports Committee though, and it was agreed that the three school model as it was structured made for a fair and interesting competition. The Committee did propose an extension to this that they all agreed to, this being that if other schools wanted to compete, the three school model could be repeated as many times as required. The winners of each group of three would then compete against one another to determine the overall Winner of the Inter-School Quidditch Tournament at the end of the season each year.

Having to pay the penalties for losing the Griffin, the Sphinx _and_ all the Trolls in the maze cost the Ministry quite a bit, and these costs were used to slap Fudge around for failing to get prior Wizengamot approval for such a costly and ultimately wasted exercise, because his people had made such a mess of it that it had _harmed_ the reputation of Magical Britain more than it had helped. When he tried to ask for penalties from Harry and Fleur for destroying Ministry property, in the form of the Dementors that they had destroyed in the maze, he was shot down rather viciously by the Wizengamot.

Fudge even had people who had been in _his_ camp joining in and demanding to know what _any_ Dementors had been doing in that maze, let alone so many? They also asked why the Dementors only seemed to have been introduced _after_ the first Champions had gone through, as if they were specifically targeting the Head of _multiple_ British Noble and Most Ancient Houses, and the daughter and heir of the Deputy Minister of Magic for France?

He only got out of that in one piece because there was no trail leading back to him in regard to anything that had gone on in the Tournament, but a number of traditional Pureblood houses used that as an excuse to change ships before they could be dragged down with the Minister for Magic when he sank, because they could see that he was starting to founder.

* * *

The Tournament had impacted on their studies a fair bit this year, especially since Fleur's bonding and the second task, so Harry and Hermione had scaled down their plans a little. They changed it so that they were now only doing their NEWTS on their core subjects, plus Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle World Studies and Magical World Studies that year, and reduced the workload on the rest of their electives and their masteries, so that they could be spread over two years. They both managed to get straight 'O's for their ten NEWTS that year, so they'd be working on getting their NEWTs in Advanced Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Ancient Studies and Alchemy next year, as well as their masteries in Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence, Arithmancy and Runes, that should be easy...ish?

Fleur, Penny and Hagrid also did their NEWTs for their core subjects (plus Magical World Studies and Care of Magical Creatures for Fleur, Muggle and Magical World studies for Penny and Care of Magical Creatures for Hagrid), so they got nine, nine and eight NEWTs respectively, mostly 'O's and some 'E's for Fleur and Penny, with a few more 'E's for Hagrid. They would be going into their third year in the Nobles Group with their remaining electives and their masteries.

The others cruised through their OWLs with 'O's and 'E's, and they all decided to split up their NEWTs the way the first bunch had to make it more workable, do their NEWTs for their core subjects and easier electives in the first year and finish their more challenging electives and hopefully their masteries in the second year.

Sue and Millie were the Heads of Noble and Ancient Houses and Neville and Daphne were Heirs to Noble and Ancient Houses, so they could meet the criteria to keep Nobles Tower, even if there weren't more complications to make Harry, Hermione and Fleur drag out their masteries over another two years.

After all, Fleur would be carrying her pregnancy over the next year as well and…. Well how often did things go to plan for Harry? None of them were silly enough to believe that the political problems in Magical Britain were going away, even if Arthur _did_ take over as Minister in the next year.

Hermione also pointed out that Gabrielle would officially be joining them next year. Gabi had spent most of the past year with them, getting a start on the subjects she'd be studying when she did start school (she either shared Fleur's room in the Tower or went home to Delacour Chateau, and she never left Nobles Tower when she was at Hogwarts. If she'd stayed over the night before the second task those bastards wouldn't have managed to snatch her, as only Potter elves had access to the Tower).

Gabi had successfully completed the exams for her first three years in secret, so she would be officially starting as a Fourth year (maybe even a Fifth year if she could do the Fourth year exams by the end of the summer break), and she was hoping to be well into her Sixth year subjects if not doing her Sixth year exams by the end of the year. Madame Maxime was not happy to be losing both Fleur and Gabrielle to Hogwarts, but she accepted that this would be the best option for both of them.

* * *

While all of this was going on, they started the trials for Abbott, Lestrange, Somerset, Flint, Scrimgeour and everyone else who had been arrested in connection with the attempts on the lives of the Heads of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, the Heirs to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the Noble and Ancient Houses of Flamel and Moody and their Betrothed (and the Betrothed of the Heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Greengass).

The House of Granger had been excluded as it was _only_ 'Noble', and the House of Delacour because it was a French House, not a British one, but Harry and Hermione qualified as the betrothed for each other's houses and House Greengrass, and Fleur and Gabrielle both qualified because they were betrothed to Harry Potter. They _had_ been planning on waiting until the end of the Tournament to do this because they wanted Marcus Flint to testify, but the Troll in the maze had robbed them of that.

The trials went fairly quickly, as they had taken copies of their memories (including Marcus Flint's) when they were first questioned under Veritaserum, and these were replayed when they were questioned again in front of the Wizengamot. Their biggest disappointment was the fact that they didn't have enough evidence to directly link Fudge, Bagnold or the French Minister to the matters at hand and lay charges on them.

The sentence for most of those involved was pre-determined by the law that Minerva had raised that day in the Great Hall, the penalty for attempts on the lives of the Heads or Heirs of Noble and Ancient or higher Houses of Magical Britain, and their Betrothed, was _death_! All of the titles, holdings and wealth of all of the British Houses were taken, to be distributed among the effected Houses, and their House names were eradicated in Magical Britain.

The French Houses could not be eradicated by an order from Britain, but they did manage to seize the titles, holdings and wealth of the House of Lestrange and the others involved, which were all transferred to the French Houses of Flamel and Delacour. Magical France had similar laws in regard to the Heads, Heirs and Betrothed of the Noblesse Ancienne Houses, so the Ministre de la Magie couldn't sweep the matter under the rug as he had wished to. Once the ICW had ratified the findings of the Wizengamot, the houses involved were doomed.

The most controversial aspect of the trials was related to Hannah Abbott, as her role in obtaining Harry's blood for her father to use it to force him to compete in the Tournament was uncovered and proven, as was the fact that her only concern after her father's plans went into play was what would happen to _her_ if anyone found out. She had lied when asked about this, and it was only when she was under Veritaserum that she finally admitted the truth.

Arguments that she was only thirteen and didn't know what she was doing were countered by comparing her to Harry, Hermione, Sue, Neville, Daphne, Tracey and Padma, who were all around the same age and represented Noble Houses as she did, and Luna and Astoria who were even younger. In every comparison, her peers' actions reflected what was expected of those who would soon begin to take over Magical Britain (the other side quickly dropped the argument that Harry and Hermione already _were_ taking over, because they realised that it wasn't helping their case), while Hannah only thought of herself.

The arguments that most of them were the Heads or Heirs of their houses and therefore would have been raised to deal with these matters was easily countered by the fact that both Harry and Hermione had been raised in the _Muggle_ world, so they didn't really know _anything_ about Magical Britain until they came to Hogwarts, and that Tracey, Padma and Astoria weren't the heirs to their houses either.

(Obviously none of these people had ever bothered reading the articles in the Daily Prophet after Xeno took over that pointed out that all of those 'Boy-Who-Lived' stories that everyone judged Harry by had been nothing but works of fiction that had been cranked out by people who just wanted to make money off the name.)

In the end, the others gave up arguing and they decided Hannah's fate, but even given the serious nature of her role in this, none of them were really comfortable with the idea of sending a thirteen year old girl to Azkaban. This was why Amelia made a quick decision and revealed the Red Letter program to the Wizengamot, pointing out that this would allow the girl to live a relatively normal life, but at the same time they could track her and monitor her actions, and suppress her magic if she was doing something she shouldn't. Amelia had to try and ignore her own niece bursting into laughter when she said that they could apply the mark some place on the girl's body that would be covered by her clothes, so no-one would see it.

When she took Sue to task about this afterwards, Sue explained. "Auntie Ami, Hannah has been getting in trouble with boys since before she even went to Hogwarts! I'm willing to bet that _p_ _lenty_ of boys would see that mark, no matter where it was on her body!"

This in turn led to Hermione bursting out laughing, but she said that she'd send Amelia a copy of the Scarlet Letter, promising that that would explain what _she_ was laughing about.

The rest of the Wizengamot ignored Sue's outburst, and voted to apply the Red Letter mark to Hannah Smith (she'd gone back to her Muggleborn mother's name when the name Abbott was eradicated) and use that to monitor her behaviour, so she was sent back to Hogwarts after the Summer break with the mark.

Amelia had long since gotten rid of the diehard Purebloods in the Improper use of Magic Office and restructured it to actually watch for the improper use of magic, rather than just persecute Muggleborn and Half-Blood witches and wizards who lived in Muggle areas. The people running the office now were quite excited about the idea of being able to track and monitor witches and wizards with this mark.

Their excitement only increased when testing had confirmed that they could remotely suppress the magic of anyone wearing the mark who was acting inappropriately, and that that didn't effect their ability to track or monitor them. The fact that the mark gave out a burning sensation when the magic suppression was activated didn't bother them in the least, as they regarded this as a valid warning to the one with the mark (the original reason had been to make them react so that they'd be easy to spot when the Aurors or Officers arrived to take them into custody for whatever it was that they'd done to cause the suppression to be activated).

What this meant was that Miss Smith was giving them a log term opportunity to observe what happened when people were wearing the Red Letter mark outside of Azkaban. This would be useful experience because in few years time, the first of the ones wearing the mark would start being released from Azkaban and they'd have to monitor their behaviour then.

Between the round-up of what they hoped was the last of the real Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters, and the trials for what happened with the Triwizard Tournament, over a dozen more Pureblood houses were eradicated and/or lost everything in Magical Britain, and the House of Lestrange and four more were pretty well wiped out in France as well. Most of what was taken from these houses went to Houses of the Potter Alliance, which was now aligned to the Delacour Alliance in France, as they were starting to prod the French governing body to look at long standing issues as well.

This meant that the balance of power in Magical Britain had swung even further in the Potter Alliance's favour. The Delacour Alliance in France also grew quite a bit in the wake of the trials, because many of the French Houses were not comfortable to find that the dominant group in their government was willing to directly attack Noble Houses that opposed their ideas like this.

* * *

Just about all of the extended family were at Potter Manor for the summer break again, Louis and Apolline were in France, and Minerva, Pomona, Filius, Aurora (and Sirius) and Poppy were staying at Hogwarts because of their Headmistress, Healer and House Master/Mistress duties, but most of the rest of them were staying at the Manor. Ted and Andi and Arthur and Amelia went to London for work each day, the rest of them were involved in the students on-going education. Even Madam Marchbanks spent a fair deal of time at the Manor, because she got to spend time with her peers and friends, Minerva, Augusta and Alastor. She also helped with some of the instruction and held exams at the Manor as well.

They spent some time nursing the Griffin back to health and getting it settled into living at Tiroedd y Frân. The Sphinx decided that she was happy living on the estate for now, but reserved the right to change her mind come winter.

Hagrid didn't want to leave Tiroedd y Frân, but they couldn't blame him really, as they'd now added a Griffin and a Sphinx to their herds of Hippogriffs, Thestrals and Unicorns and the Centaur and Merpeople colonies, not to mention the Mngwas and the fact that the Goblins rotated their guard dragons to Tiroedd y Frân to give them time in the sun. It was a dream come true for Hagrid.

For all the work they were doing, they had time for fun and relaxation as well, so overall it was a good summer.

The main stress came from the fact that Harry and Hermione had to get married, well they didn't _have_ to, but just as Anne's advice for them to perform their bonding ritual before Harry and Fleur did had been sound advice, so was Andi's when she said that Hermione should be married first as the Primary Wife before Harry married Fleur for the Delacour line continuation union. Millie also decided to get married to Harry.

Hermione raised the issue of the clause in the betrothal contracts that stated that they couldn't get married until they'd both reached their majority, but Ted explained that this was only an issue if they wanted it to be. He walked them through another rule that had been brought in back in the days of the Goblin Rebellions. This one stated that where they had willing chosen to be married, the Head of a Noble House was deemed to have reached their majority on their wedding day, so if she and Millie decided to get married, then the condition of having reached their majority would be met on their wedding day. Hermione and Millie looked at each other and nodded, accepting that that was good enough and they wanted to go ahead.

The biggest issue, of course, was that Hermione couldn't think of any way to tell her parents about this that wouldn't result in a total meltdown, so she decided not to tell them. They agreed that the Hermione's eight, Fleur's one and Millie's two marriages would be held on consecutive days after Harry's thirteenth birthday. That way he, Hermione and Millie would all be thirteen when they married, and Fleur would still be sixteen, so the age difference didn't look so much.

Part of the reason that they were proceeding with Millie's marriages as well was that Harry had also performed the bonding ritual with her. What they found after Fleur's bonding ritual though was that while they were in each other's heads, Millie still couldn't sleep without nightmares unless she shared Harry and Hermione's bed.

They talked the situation over with Anne, as she was the expert on human as well as Veela bonds, and she suggested, if the three of them were comfortable with it, that Harry performing the bonding ritual with Millie might help her. Millie pointed out that she wasn't a virgin after what those bastards had done to her, so that wasn't an issue, and she, Hermione and Harry agreed to go forward with the bonding ritual.

While it didn't work quite as they had hoped, because Millie still couldn't sleep well without them, their bond was closer and they were more content with each other, so it was worth doing. What they saw over the deeper bond though was that Millie wasn't, and probably never would be, comfortable with any man or boy but Harry, so when it was decided that she and Fleur would be marrying Harry in early August, Hermione asked Millie whether she'd like to go ahead with her marriages too, and they all agreed to do that.

Ted pointed out that the traditional marriage ceremonies in the magical world required that the marriage be consummated on the wedding day for the marriage to be binding, but Hermione just shrugged and said that they had all done that already, so doing it again shouldn't be a problem. That got a laugh out of all of them, especially as the reason that they needed to go forward with this was Fleur's pregnancy.

There was one surprising development in this, because when Harry contacted the Flamels to make sure that there wouldn't be any issues in regard to him getting married as the Heir to the British and French Branches of the House of Flamel, Nicholas decided then and there to make Harry the head of the British Branch of the House of Flamel before the wedding, though he would remain the Heir to the main French branch of the House of Flamel. Nicholas made the necessary arrangements through Gringott, so Harry was married as the Head of the British House of Flamel rather than the Heir. He _was_ married as the Heir to the main House of Flamel though.

Augusta Longbottom stepped in to perform the actual marriage ceremonies for them, and they were all grateful to have finished when they'd gotten through the eight ceremonies required for the eight betrothal contracts between Harry and Hermione.

After the bonds of marriage had been sealed by consummation (Harry and Hermione were grateful that only one act of consummation was required for their eight marriages), Harry, Hermione and Millie all received a noticeable kick from the family magics of each house as the spouse of the Head of the House. Fleur missed out on some of this because both she and Harry were still the heirs to the houses in their union, so they did not get as much access to the Family Magic as the others did.

As the spouse to the Head of _four_ Noble and Most Ancient Houses, Hermione received the biggest boost from this. Harry was the spouse to the Heads of two Noble and Most Ancient Houses, one Noble and Ancient House and one Noble House and Heirs to two more Noble and Ancient Houses, while Millie was the spouse to the Head of one Noble and Ancient House, but the House of Flamel was an old and powerful one, and its family magic was almost as strong as that of some Most Ancient Houses (in British terms, the main House of Flamel would have qualified as Most Ancient, even though that wasn't recognised in the French parlance, and for that matter the British House of Flamel had been created _during_ the Norman Conquest, the event that ended the 'Most Ancient' description).

Harry had also received that family magic kick when he was made the Head of the British House of Flamel.

 **A/N: I realise that some will be tempted to argue that the marriages at the end of this chapter are inappropriate, please don't. I could point out that most of the characters are old enough to get married in most societies (reminding you that two of them are really eighteen and nineteen), and that in some current societies marriage at thirteen to much older men is considered right and acceptable. What I _will_ point out though is that this is _fiction_ , and it's _not_ set in our world, it's set in a different world where what is expected or acceptable is different from our world, which is the reason that Hermione has decided against telling her parents that she was getting married, as it is just one more thing that she cannot explain to them.**


	10. Growing Up Fast, and Other Challenges

**The one, and _only_ thing I like about anonymous reviews is the fact that they can be deleted, because for at least 99% of them, that's the only thing they deserve. Like many writers on here, I wish I could block them.**

 **In case anyone missed it, we have now seen who's behind the Purebloods, ex-Minister Millicent Bagnold. Also, as Fleur needed to get married to Harry because her pregnancy was now progressing, Hermione went ahead with the marriages for the betrothal contracts she had with Harry. Millie went forward with her marriages as well, because she was the only other one of the girls who had completed a bonding ritual with Harry, and they all accepted that she had no hope for a happy future other than with the family.**

 **This might be a good time to add more definitions of how things go in _this_ world. For the purpose of the story, the powerful old Houses all have have family magic. When someone is accepted as the Head of the House (and to a lesser degree, the Heir) and the family magic accepts them, it comes into them and if it is strong enough, it will correct any deficiencies in them and boost both their magic and their development. To a lesser degree, a similar thing happens when someone marries the Head or Heir of the House, their spouse is accepted by the family magic and they gain some degree of benefit from this. This was why Harry and Hermione changed at the start of the story, why Millie and Sue changed when they were accepted as the Heads of their Houses, and why Harry and the girls changed again when they married. Also, access to the family knowledge and secrets comes with the family magic, this was how Harry and Hermione had known how to work Dumbledore and the Noble Houses as soon as they were accepted as the heads of their houses. For another thing, there's no such thing as Half-Veela or Quarter-Veela here, Veela are born of the union between Veela and Wizards, full stop.  
**

 **There is a rather unpleasant section about two thirds of the way through, the beginning and end are marked if people wish to skip this. It relates to what was done to Ginny (and to a degree Ron) to make her like she was, and while it's part of the storyline, it's not essential to understand the main storyline. It's mainly there to explain why she's being accepted and supported again.  
**

 **Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

As Apolline had noted, the Veela change that wasn't supposed to happen in Gabi until she was fifteen or sixteen had been triggered by being involved in Fleur's transformation. This meant that she had started showing mature Veela traits at ten and she had been going through considerable mental as well as physical development since January.

Anne and Apolline discussed this with Harry and Hermione at various points along the way as Gabi was changing, and they explained how Veela developed so much faster than humans once they went through the change. Anne explained that Veela usually tended to develop slower than normal human girls before the change, but their development accelerated rapidly when the change came. Apolline grudgingly admitted that as Gabrielle was now more physically developed at eleven than Hermione and the other girls were at nearly fourteen, she was _physically_ ready for a bonding, but as her mother she couldn't stand the idea of her little girl going through that yet. Harry and Hermione quite agreed with that sentiment, though Anne, as a more essential Veela, held to the opinion that Gabrielle would be fine with it.

Hermione had pointed out that they hardly needed to tell them that Gabi was changing faster than them, because in the time that she and the other girls had grown a couple of inches in height and a little less in bust measurements, Gabi had shot up and filled out, so the little girl had become a fully grown woman. She could see that Apolline wanted to say something else but was holding back, so she addressed what she thought Apolline was holding back.

"Yes, I understand that Gabi has already bonded to Harry and she cannot be separated from him without causing her harm, rest assured that I wouldn't dream of causing anything of the sort. The only ones in the bond who are at all in question at the moment are Daphne and Astoria, but I am almost certain that they will fully bond when they mature as well. Tracey is the only thing like a close link either of them have outside of our immediate family and the link Daphne has with her is nothing like she has with us."

Apolline gave her a grateful smile. "You really are the perfect head wife Hermione, you look after all of them...I couldn't have asked for a better family for my daughters to be bonded into."

Hermione snorted as she leant back into Harry. "I don't think that it was fated that way from the start. We expected that Luna might have joined us, as she was closest to us in the last cycle, but this time Luna didn't _need_ us, she is happy in the family environment we had in the Tower and has other people she can turn to. Millie, on the other hand, _did_ need us, she couldn't get through a night without nightmares thanks to that bastard of a father of her's, and to a lesser degree those bastards who raped her. Harry and I were sharing a bed to keep the nightmares away so it was only natural to invite her to join us for the same reason. The only time she was free from the nightmares was when she was with us, so we made it permanent, and we all got very close through that. Daphne and Tori are probably the most like me in the group, so we got very close too. Anyone who's close to me is close to Harry, and anyone who's close to Harry comes to love him, so it was inevitable really. And you know how Fleur and Gabi joined us."

Apolline had to laugh at the matter of fact way that this remarkable young witch explained how and why she had come to share her man with five other witches, including two Veela. She was comforted by the conviction that even when they grew older and became sexual (yes, four of them had _had_ sex, but that was a requirement of the rituals rather than them _being_ sexual), Hermione would be quite able to handle it so that this didn't become a problem between them.

It was obvious that the one thing Harry had _needed_ was a loving family, which was quite understandable after they learned of the nightmare that had taken the place of a childhood for him. It was just as obvious that these two could never love anyone else as much as they loved each other, but they both had enough love to share with the others who held a special place in their hearts, and _that_ was what made this unconventional family of their's work.

By the end of the summer break, Gabi was looking more like fifteen or sixteen than eleven, and she'd been going through the work so fast that she had actually done her OWLs before they went back to Hogwarts (getting at least 'E's in every subject, 'O's in many of them), so she was starting in Sixth year with the others. Gabi's very close bond to Fleur was part of the reason she had gotten through the course work so quickly, because she had been picking up the background information she needed from Fleur's memories. Much like Harry and Hermione, she had only needed to skim through the theory and do the practical work to pick it up.

* * *

When they started back at Hogwarts, the fact that Fleur had transferred from Beauxbatons to Hogwarts attracted a lot of attention, and if anything the addition of Gabrielle, who was obviously her sister, attracted even more. The male students were quite disgruntled to see that Gabi was wearing a Betrothal ring, and they fixated on _her_ ring so much that they missed the fact that Hermione, Millie and Fleur's rings had changed from Betrothal rings to Marriage rings. At least no-one who recognised the difference noted the change.

People _did_ notice that Hermione and Harry seemed to have had another growth spurt since last year, as they looked a couple of inches taller and about a year older, but no-one outside of the family knew that this came from the family magic that accepted them when they were married (and when Harry had been accepted as Head of the British House of Flamel). Those who were paying attention (this was mostly girls keeping an eye on the competition) had noted the lesser change in Millie as well.

Because it had been happening since January and it had been less obvious than Gabi's rapid growth, few people had noticed that all of the immediate family had been developing faster since they were part of the experience of Fleur's transformation into an Elder Veela, but as Hermione had noted, they had all grown a couple of inches or more and filled out, so they appeared about a year older than they were. Outside of Harry's immediate family, Sue was the only one who had been accepted by the family magic as the Head of her House and received the development boost from that. This had the effect of making Harry's family appear older than the others (even Tori, who was actually the youngest after Gabi), but luckily the age spread in the group meant that this didn't become an issue.

As was the norm now, Harry loaned Merlin back to the school to act as the Sorting Hat for the sorting ceremony (Merlin had been one of the items listed to be recovered when Dumbledore was sent to Azkaban), and once the First years had been sorted, Professor Sprout called Fleur and Gabrielle forward to be sorted. None of the family were surprised when both girls were sorted into Ravenclaw (after all, Merlin had gotten to know Fleur and Gabi quite well over the past ten months because it was involved in many of the discussions in the common rooms), but there were a lot of pissed off looks from the male students in the other houses when they lost the chance they _thought_ that they might had had to charm the pants off these two beautiful young women.

Minerva had a couple of announcements to make that surprised many of the students. The first wasn't too bad.

"Professor Kettleburn has decided to retire while he still has the limbs left to enjoy his retirement. I am pleased to announce that Hogwarts' Keeper of Keys and Grounds, Rubeus Hagrid, will be taking over from Professor Kettleburn as the teacher for the Care of Magical Creatures subject. Please join me in wishing Professor Kettleburn well in his well earned retirement and welcoming Professor Hagrid."

There was a mixed response to this at first, but a lot of the others were quick to jump on the bandwagon when the Nobles group gave Hagrid a standing ovation.

The next announcement was different, and it was a worry because Ted had confirmed that the law that the Ministry was using was valid, even if they _were_ stretching their interpretation of it quite a bit. This law had been implemented hundreds of years ago to allow the Wizengamot to oversee teaching practises at the schools of magic that had started to crop up more frequently, with a view to stopping those which were more likely to harm the young witches and wizards in their care than help them. Unfortunately, this overseeing role had been allocated to the Ministry of Magic when it was created around seventeen hundred, and they were staying within the letter, if not the spirit, of the law by enacting it now.

It was obviously an attempt to derail the changes that they were making to the way the people of Magical Britain viewed what was happening in their world. What was still in question though was who was behind it. If it was Fudge grasping at straws they didn't have much to worry about, but if it was Bagnold behind it, they would have to be very careful and watch every angle.

The title for the role and the choice of the person who had been sent to fill it seemed to be good signs though, because they were both so stupid it almost _had_ to be Fudge who was behind it. Giving the representative of the government of Magical Britain who was looking into how witches and wizards are being educated the title of 'High Inquisitor'? _**R**_ _ **eally?**_ Were the Purebloods like Fudge the _only_ witches and wizards who had forgotten that _the Inquisition_ had been the tool that was used by the church to torture and murder at least a hundred thousand (and quite possibly many more) witches and wizards on the flimsiest of excuses right across Europe from the late fourteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, and that over ten thousand British witches and wizards were tortured and slaughtered in the same period as well?

The witch that the Ministry had sent for this was just as bad, Mafalda Hopkirk, she had been in the Improper Use of Magic Office up until Amelia had gotten rid of her. Unfortunately, whoever had been behind her orders there (probably Bagnold) had been cunning enough to make sure she stuck to the letter of the law, so there had not been enough grounds to fire her and ban her from the Ministry, which was why she was back to haunt them now. Hopkirk was a rabid Pureblood bigot who had taken a great deal of enjoyment out of twisting the requirements of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and using her version of the rules as an excuse to hound Muggleborn and Half-Blood students out of Hogwarts and the magical world, while giving children from traditional Pureblood families a free pass on everything.

If there was anyone perfect for a witch hunt like this though, it was her. Harry and the others in the bond suddenly burst out laughing when they realised just what he had been thinking, so they had to explain to the others what they were laughing about, and what the term 'witch hunt' had come to mean in the contemporary Muggle world. When the others got what had cracked them up, _they_ burst out laughing too, which irked Hopkirk no end as she was in the middle of some pompous speech that no-one was listening to.

* * *

Knowing that the Ministry would most probably try to fabricate evidence against Hagrid, Filius and anyone else that they didn't approve of, like the Muggleborn Muggle World Studies teacher, they had made arrangements as soon as they heard about this for every lesson and probable meeting with Hopkirk to be recorded, so that they could refute whatever lies that Hopkirk made up.

After she arrived, the more shite Hopkirk spouted, the more they were convinced that this was Fudge's idea, because the first thing she demanded of Minerva was copies of _all_ of the current students' files. Minerva managed to remain calm and asked what she wanted the students' files for, and when the answer was. "I need to confirm that they're actually learning something in these new courses of your's!" Minerva just smiled condescendingly at her.

"Then you should have gone to the Wizarding Examination Authority before you came here Madam Hopkirk. _They_ can supply the results of all examinations that they have conducted, and I cannot give _anyone_ access to our students' files without both the Hogwarts Board and their parents' approval."

Hopkirk started to bluster. "I am here with the authority of the Minister for Magic! You are required to give me full co-operation so give me those files now!"

Minerva dropped the pleasant façade at that. "You don't have _any_ authority inside of Hogwarts Madam Hopkirk, and the _only_ co-operation I am required to give you is to allow you to observe the agreed classes to report to the Ministry that the students are being properly educated. As I have already informed you, the Wizarding Examination Authority can supply the test results for our students, and that is the _only_ part of our students' records that the Ministry has any right to see. Given your approach here however, I am forced to call for an immediate meeting of the Hogwarts Board so that you can present your demands to them directly. Wait while I do so."

With that, she stood and walked to the fireplace, floo calling each member of the Hogwarts Board and having them some through straight away. Hopkirk was trying to stop her up until the first Board member came through, and then she shut up. When the Director of the Wizarding Examination Authority came through after the Board members, Hopkirk went to say something but clamped her mouth shut straight away, because she suddenly realised that this wasn't going to go her way at all.

Minerva started by sharing Hopkirk's demands that she hand over _all_ of Hogwarts' students' files to her. Hopkirk tried to claimed that that was not true, so Minerva put the memory of the event into the pensieve for the Board. Putting that false accusation aside for the moment, Griselda weighed in then and confirmed that all that she needed to verify the education standards, and all she had any right to see, was the exam results, and the Examination Authority should be the ones to provide them.

Hopkirk was getting desperate, and she really put her foot in it then, because she shouted. "No, that is not enough! We need their whole files to confirm that those results are real! Potter and other students in his group have skipped up to four years in the last two school years, they can't have done that legitimately!" This gave both Griselda a chance to pounce, and Amelia (who was there as a member of the Hogwarts Board) the opportunity she needed to get into Hopkirk's mind.

Amelia knew that what she was doing, going into the minds of Hopkirk and others like her to take and alter their memories without their permission or orders to do so, was totally illegal, but what she had seen in Harry and Hermione's memories of what happened last time had been enough to convince her that if they did not actively fight this, and stop their kind, thousands would suffer and die and their world would probably be destroyed. That was justification for her actions in her mind, and she could sleep easy with what she was doing.

Griselda was raging at Hopkirk about her accusing the Examination Authority of falsifying results and pointing out in simple words that before Dumbledore took over control of Hogwarts, _many_ talented students had skipped over years when they had covered the course material faster than other students. She added that that just of the people presently in the office, she, Professor McGonagall, Madame Longbottom and Lord Moody had all done this, and made a point of comparing these achievements with the abysmal results that _Hopkirk_ had managed to achieve at Hogwarts, pointing out how she had barely scraped through with 'Acceptable's for most of the small number of subjects that she did pass in her OWLs, and that she had then only managed to get _two_ 'A's in her NEWTs, failing the rest of her subjects.

With Griselda ripping Hopkirk apart and humiliating her like this, Hopkirk was wide open to Amelia's probes, and Amelia had little difficulty confirming that Fudge was indeed the one who was behind this, and that her primary purpose in being here was to get information that could be used to attack Harry and the Family. Hopkirk had been _specifically_ tasked by Fudge with finding the location of where Harry was living, as he wanted to eliminate Harry as a threat, and had apparently decided that the only way to do that was to kill him. It was fairly easy for Amelia to insert the location of one of the disused estates that they maintained for this purpose (while the Death Eaters had gone down faster and easier than they thought they would, they had kept these active in case other threats presented themselves), along with the memory that an angry Minerva McGonagall had let this slip while she was ranting at her, into Hopkirk's weak mind.

Amelia discovered that Hopkirk had also been tasked with getting the details of all the better Pureblood students at Hogwarts and Hogwarts' new lesson plans, because apparently Fudge hadn't given up on his idea of starting a Ministry school for the Purebloods, and he wanted to make it look better to prospective parents by filling it with the best of the Purebloods at Hogwarts and using Hogwarts' lessons. They all believed that Fudge's school had little chance of getting off the ground, but Amelia and the rest of the family had been heavily involved in turning Hogwarts around, which meant that she had been involved in many discussions with Minerva and the staff about the students. This gave her an idea so she had a bit of fun planting the names of most of the Pureblood students who were struggling, or who's attitude meant that they had no real hope of doing well without their results being twisted to help them in Hopkirk's head, with added digs that they were being held being back because they were Purebloods.

She had been tempted to add Ronald Fudge to that list of names, but decided that that would be too obvious, and everyone (except Fudge probably) knew that he was the bottom of the barrel anyway. Amelia had a quiet word to Griselda to ensure that the results that Hopkirk was told for those students matched the memories that she'd planted. This ruse would be uncovered if they actually checked the Examination Authority's records, but that was the beauty of it, because it was _Fudge_ 's game that they were playing here and Fudge's short sightedness and laziness meant that he would _never_ waste time or effort on bothering to check something that they'd been told by the authority on the subject. Besides, those digs about holding them back and the courses being changed would explain the discrepancy if any of the parents had bothered paying attention to the reports that they had received about their children's performance. And for that matter, most of _those_ Pureblood families would never believe that their children could be in any way inferior to Muggleborn or even Half-Blood children.

Amelia also left the memories of the rejected lesson plans for the subjects that they'd changed (and others) in Hopkirk's head, along with a fantasy that she had managed to get access to the files that she needed while she was at Hogwarts without McGonagall finding out. She tied this story to the names that she'd planted in Hopkirk's mind to explain how she had those names. A planted memory that the files had been spelled to prevent copying and a compulsion to write and then forget what she had 'found' would explain why it was all in her handwriting, including the list of names. That compulsion also caused her to forget much of what was said in the meeting afterwards. Amelia had plenty of time to do this, because Minerva, Augusta, Andi, Griselda, Alastor, and the other Hogwarts Board members as well, were all haranguing Hopkirk whenever she opened her mouth.

Most of the Board members ripped into Hopkirk and demanded to know why she was trying to get copies of their children's files, because none of them believed for a moment the answer she had given. Minerva and some of the Board were demanding to know why the Ministry wanted the lesson plans for the current Hogwarts courses. Minerva also demanded the justification for reviewing all the classes when only a few of them had changed substantially from what had been taught at Hogwarts for decades. Andi and Alastor waded in when Hopkirk said that she had to observe the classes for the Nobles Group, but it was Augusta who shut that down.

" _ **No!**_ The law that was used to send you here states that the Wizengamot, and later the Ministry, were given the authority to observe the teaching practices at new _schools_ to ensure that the students are getting the education that they require to become capable witches and wizards. Even though Hogwarts is most definitely _not_ a new school, we have allowed the Ministry to come to Hogwarts to review those courses that have been substantially changed in recent years. Interfering with the private _tutoring_ group that is made up of the highest ranked and best achieving students at Hogwarts is _totally_ outside of the scope of that law and will _not_ be allowed!"

Hopkirk proved yet again that she wasn't too bright by trying to argue the point. "That isn't what the law says at all! The Ministry has the right to review the education of all students! You _will_ give me access to the classes of all students at Hogwarts! And the files that I require as well!"

Minerva just sat and looked at her with an expression of marked distaste on her face for a couple of minutes, then she stood without a word and walked to the fireplace. Less than a minute later, Ted came through with a bundle of parchments in his hands.

Hopkirk didn't manage to get more than "What's that Mud..." out before Minerva cut her off viciously. _**"We do not allow the use of that term at Hogwarts Madam Hopkirk!"**_

When she had calmed herself a little, she continued. "As for what you were asking so inappropriately, _Lord_ Tonks is the Primary Legal Representative for Hogwarts, as well as for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, who are the sponsors of the private _tutoring_ group that you are attempting to illegally interfere with..."

Griselda cut in with. " _And_ he's the legal consultant to the Wizengamot as well!"

Minerva nodded with a little smirk to Griselda, but shot a brief glare at Alastor, because he'd snorted when she referred to Ted as _Lord_ Tonks, no doubt remembering how she'd basically told Martin Abbott that _he_ had no right to refer to himself as Lord because his family had held a title for barely a hundred years. With that addressed, she continued.

"As you are making false and unfounded claims as to what this law says and what rights it grants you here Madam Hopkirk, I deemed it to be in the interests of Hogwarts to bring in our legal expert. Lord Tonks, could you enlighten us as to the specifics of this law and what Ministry officials are entitled to do under its auspices please?"

Ted nodded, addressing her by her title as etiquette required when he had been addressed formally. "Most certainly Countess McGonagall. As you have requested, I have brought the original law, along with the amendments that have been approved by the Wizengamot since then….."

He went on to describe the various versions of the law to the Minerva, the Hogwarts Board, Madam Marchbanks and Hopkirk, who had made no attempt to hide that she'd stopped listening almost straight away. This pissed Ted off, so as soon as the Board had a grasp of the law and its limitations, he directed a statement at Hopkirk. "So that is why you will _not_ go anywhere near the Nobles Group, the Hogwarts student records or the lesson plans for any Hogwarts courses unless you want to end up in Azkaban Madam Hopkirk!"

It took a while for Hopkirk to register that he'd said her name, and even longer for to dredge up _what_ he'd said, and then she started to bluster. "You can't threaten or order about a representative Mud..."

This time it was Alastor who shut her up, by the simple mechanism of casting a silencing spell over her. When Augusta asked whether he was going to cancel the spell, Alastor glowered at Hopkirk and shook his head. "No Madam Longbottom, I am not. Yon daft witch will not listen to anyone else so long as she is able to speak herself. I do not know whether this will be enough to make her listen, but at least we will be spared having to listen to _her_. If she shows a real indication that she's learned something from this by tomorrow I'll consider lifting the spell then, otherwise she can stay like this."

Even those Board members who weren't aligned to the family agreed with this, because they had all found the stupid and bombastic witch to be infuriating.

Hopkirk was panicking as she stared at him, she was trying to speak but nothing was coming out. She suddenly realised that with no voice, she couldn't call for help or cast any spells, so she was trapped here at their mercy until they decided to release her, and _that_ thought terrified her.

Ted started explaining the rules of the law that she had been sent here under again. Alastor whacked her chair to get her attention and pointed at Ted when he did, _this_ time she paid attention to Ted, nodding frantically to say that she agreed to the conditions that he was stipulating. With that, Minerva called for Pomona to escort Hopkirk to the chambers that they had assigned to her for the duration of her visit to Hogwarts. After she had left Alastor told them that he had replaced the original silencing spell with one that would disappear overnight, and that hopefully she'd have a better attitude once she'd had time to reflect on what was said, though he doubted it.

With that, they wound up the meeting and the Hogwarts Board members departed.

* * *

As expected, Hopkirk went after Hagrid, Filius and Charity Burbage, the Muggleborn Muggle World Studies teacher, harder than anyone else, trying to find anything that the Ministry could use to demand that these half-breeds and Mudbloods be removed as teachers and banished from Hogwarts.

It surprised them that it took three months for Fudge's crowd to do anything with what they thought they had gotten out of Hopkirk's visit, but they understood when they saw the play that was made in the Wizengamot. The play that the other side made really surprised them, because it was much too clever for Fudge or his cronies to come up with, until they realised that Bagnold must have fed the strategy to them, because _she_ certainly had the ability to come up with something like this.

That in turn led to the question of why she hadn't picked up on the discrepancies in the figures that had been fed to Hopkirk, but they decided that, while intelligent, Bagnold must be infected with the same single minded bigotry as the other Pureblood traditionalists, and therefore also blindly accepted that the only way Mudbloods and Half-Bloods would beat Purebloods was by cheating.

Minerva and all of the Hogwarts Board ensured that they were at the Wizengamot session that was called for this, because it specifically referred to deficiencies in the Hogwarts education practices. For this reason, just about every Wizengamot member who had a child at Hogwarts also made a point of attending the session.

The session started with Hopkirk and Fudge's supposed 'education experts' railing about the lack of teaching ability of the Half-breeds and Muggleborns who were employed at Hogwarts, presenting the lower scores in their classes as evidence of this (taking care to cover up the fact that they were new or revised classes that people were getting started in, or extremely difficult classes like Charms). They also claimed bias against Pureblood students, citing selected Purebloods' lower scores than others in the classes as proof of this bias. The sudden drop in Purebloods' (well, Slytherin Purebloods') scores and the improvement in other students' scores in Potions after Snape was sent to Azkaban and Slughorn was brought in to replace him was trotted out as further proof of this anti-Pureblood bias.

At the end of the presentations, Fudge called for the immediate dismissal of the Half-breed and Muggleborn teachers from Hogwarts, and the dismissal of Professor McGonagall as the architect and perpetrator of this travesty of an education system.

The Hogwarts Board members and other students' parents in the Wizengamot looked to Professor McGonagall and the Potter Alliance for the lead on how to address this, and on this point, there was no surprise in the emphatic refusal on all points. They all followed suit and the matter was summarily rejected by the Wizengamot.

This, however, was where the surprise was introduced, because Fudge stood up and said that if Pureblood students' rights to a proper education at Hogwarts would not be upheld by the Wizengamot, he called for the immediate recognition of an alternative school where the Pureblood students would be protected from the inferior teachers and anti-Pureblood bias that were currently prevalent at Hogwarts. He called for the recognition of the Pure Magic Academy and the immediate transfer of all Pureblood students from Hogwarts to the Pure Academy. He also demanded that all school fees that had been paid for these students be transferred from Hogwarts to the Pure Magic Academy.

Most of the Wizengamot was shocked when Minerva and the Potter Alliance supported what Fudge proposed, _with_ the caveats that both the transfers would only be allowed to happen when _both_ the students and their parents agreed for the students to be transferred to the Pure Magic Academy, and that only _half_ of the school fees for those students would be transferred, because Hogwarts had already expended quite a bit of that money to set up for this school year with the expectation that it would be carrying the full student load for the year. Augusta, Arthur and Max Greengrass all stood and stated categorically that their children would _not_ be going to the Pure Magic Academy and half the money was more than reasonable under the circumstances when these caveats were proposed, and more than a few of the other parents did as well.

Fudge and his camp weren't at all pleased about these caveats, but the majority of the Wizengamot agreed that they were both reasonable and in the best interests of the students, so the motion was passed with the caveats attached. Over the next week, almost half of the Pureblood and Half-Blood students left Hogwarts, but the staff, the family and most of the students were celebrating, because few of the ones who had left had been strong students, but they _had_ been behind much of the trouble at the school.

There was an almost immediate improvement in the progress in all classes at Hogwarts, because the students who left had been holding up the rest of their classes, either through needing extra help or just causing disruptions. Strange as it was, it appeared that though the school only had two thirds of the students that it had had before the exodus of the traditional Purebloods, the number of high scores that they were expected to get in the end of year exams seemed almost certain to increase.

There was one student who remained at Hogwarts who had made the family happy, or at least it made Narcissa happy and they were happy for her. Draco had been given the choice of whether to stay at Hogwarts or go to the Pure Magic Academy, and he didn't even hesitate before saying that he wanted to stay at Hogwarts.

* * *

While all this was going on, Fleur was getting steadily bigger, luckily the Hogwarts robes had concealed her condition much more than the Beauxbatons robes would have, but in December, after the other students had left for the Pure Magic Academy, she stopped covering herself up and people started noticing that she was pregnant. There was little chance of hiding the pregnancy with her lithe frame, especially when she was carrying twins (which was yet another thing of note with the Veelas, because twins were something that had rarely been found in Veela history). Many of the girls at Hogwarts were frustrated that she would say nothing more about her husband (they'd noticed the marriage ring now) than the fact that Vicomte Flamel was the heir to one of the oldest Magical Noble families in France.

Anne was finding that her petite filles were turning everything that Veela believed to be immutable rules that defined what they were on its head. She hadn't said anything to anyone yet, but she had the strong suspicion that when Gabrielle had her bonding ritual (with the same mate as her sister and four other women), _she_ would become an Elder Veela as well. Anne did not know what this would do to the rest of those in the bond and their familiers, but she was fairly certain that they would become even _more_ extraordinary.

Their mother, the young man who would be all the girls' husbands and their head wife were all adamant that Gabrielle must wait until she had had a chance to mature emotionally and be able to enjoy being a teenager before they went there. Anne was of two minds about this, because on one hand she was incredibly happy that Gabrielle's new family cared about her happiness and well being so much but on the other hand, she wanted to shout at them to stop treating her as a human! She was a Veela and human rules didn't always apply to her, especially in matters such as this!

The end of term exams just before the Christmas break were already showing improved results for those who'd remained at Hogwarts, and the staff were wondering whether those at Pure had worked out what had happened yet. Minerva and Filius pointed out that they'd probably cover it up with elevated marks and test scores until they _had_ to involve the Wizarding Examination Authority for the end of year examinations, and then it would all fall apart. Alastor derailed the agreement to their comments with a simple statement.

"Will it? I can see Fudge's cronies in the Ministry's Department of Magical Education authorising their school to do their own examinations. The only exams that they couldn't get away with that for because the ICW oversees them are the OWLs and the NEWTs, and I'm sure that they'll find a way to blame us for their failures when the results of _those_ come out."

They all had to agree that that was a distinct possibility.

* * *

They had another event at the start of the Christmas break, because there was an attack on the estate that Amelia had slipped to Hopkirk in the meeting in Minerva's office. They had been expecting this, so Kingsley had a squad of trusted Aurors ready at all times, and they went in with a Goblin made port key (the wards blocked wizard made port keys and wizard apparation) as soon as they received an alert to say that someone was trying to interfere with the wards.

None of them could understand how Fudge thought that these dregs of wizarding society that he hired to do this could have succeeded. Sixteen Aurors port keyed in, half in front and half behind the two dozen wizards in full Death Eater regalia, and all of the supposed Death Eaters were down within about thirty seconds or so.

None of these ones were protected by any secrecy oaths though, and they quickly uncovered the fact that Fudge had set this up and gave the orders _himself_. The family put it down to the fact that Fudge was desperate and stupid, and they all agreed that they'd never have this good a chance to depose Fudge and replace him with Arthur again, so they went in hard.

They had had more time to build up Arthur's image than they had expected, due to Bagnold's keeping Fudge in line to support her plans. As a result of this, it had been two and a quarter years that Arthur's star had been on the rise now, and a year and a half since he really started making a name for himself with his achievements as the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The fact that the vast majority of the Wizengamot had voted for him to also assume the role of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic nine months ago could only strengthen his position. Arthur seemed to be doing something of note every nine months, so it was time for his next step.

The trial for Fudge didn't take long, as the false Death Eaters' testimonies that Fudge had specifically ordered them to go to the estate and kill Potter, Granger and everyone else they found there made it easy to get the go ahead to question Fudge under Veritaserum and it _all_ came out. It was obvious from the way that some of the traditionalists were clamouring for Fudge to go through the Veil of Death straight away that they were afraid of what else he'd let slip if he was allowed to talk, but the family's best Legilimens were in the Wizangamot chamber, probing him for whatever was in his head.

Whenever they found anything that could be used against Fudge in the trial, they sent Amelia a message to ask the questions needed to bring it out in his testimony. They were mainly hoping to find a tangible link between him and Bagnold that they could use to deal with her, but the witch had been too clever to allow anything like _that_ to exist, so for the most part they were just collecting clues to tell them where to look for other information.

At the end of the trial, Fudge, a few associates at the Ministry and the two dozen false Death Eaters were all sentenced to be put through the Veil of Death, everything their houses had was seized for Harry and Hermione's houses and their family names eradicated. Before anyone had a chance to call for the session to be closed, so that they could try and prepare their candidates for the Minister for Magic's role, Max Greengrass called for leave to speak.

As soon as Griselda recognised him, Max launched into his prepared spiel. "Madam Chief Witch, esteemed fellow members of the Wizengamot, we have another matter before us now that we must address as a matter of priority. We no longer have a Minister for Magic! Furthermore, after witnessing just what Minister Fudge has been doing since he was elected to the role, it appears quite obvious to me that Magical Britain is in considerable trouble and we can not afford to allow this to continue any longer than is absolutely necessary! As a member of the Wizengamot for the past several years, I have been privileged to witness an admirable wizard regaining his proper place over the past few years. We all watched as he handled the embarrassment of his ex-wife's actions being being aired in this very chamber with strength and nobility."

"We watched him accept the challenge of taking on the new Department of Foreign Affairs at the Ministry and go on to address the centuries of neglect of our relations with other races. I, for one, have certainly profited from this 'interest' that Gringotts is now offering as a result of the Department of Foreign Affairs' negotiations, and from dealings with the Muggle world, which was _also_ negotiated by them under his direction. Then, nine months ago, this wizard also accepted another role _on top_ of his duties as the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, to serve Magical Britain as the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. From what we have seen, he appeared to have been performing many of the Minister for Magic's duties for him since then."

Max looked around the chamber. "As he is already handling many of the requirements for this role admirably, I hereby nominate Lord Arthur Weasley to formally assume the role of Minister for Magic for Magical Britain!"

They were surprised by what followed then, because before Alastor could second the nomination as planned, someone from one of the neutral factions jumped up to second it, just as a couple more from the Muggleborn factions tried to do the same. Griselda called for other nominations, but while the traditionalists scrabbled to put up a couple of names, they failed to get more than a few votes. Even the traditionalists seemed to be accepting the inevitable and jumping on the bandwagon to vote for Arthur though, because it was almost unanimous.

In the weeks that followed, Bill and Dora completed their bonding ritual and had the weddings for their two betrothal contacts, and then the Houses of Prewett and Weasley formally assigned their voting proxies to Bill's mother-in-law, Andi, because as the Minister, Arthur would not be in the position to cast their votes in many sessions.

There was another wedding that day, because Remus had finally accepted that the potions and ritual that Harry had discovered in Salazar Slytherin's notes _had_ indeed cured him of the curse of Lycanthropy and it wasn't coming back, so he asked Narcissa to marry him. Narcissa had said _**"Yes!"**_ the moment he asked and demanded that they get married before he had a chance to change his mind, so when Bill and Dora got married, they had a second ceremony that day. Even Draco came to support his mother at her wedding and appeared pleased for her.

Molly's Aunt Muriel became Ronald No-Name's new guardian after his father was put through the Veil and the name of the Family Fudge was eradicated, because Fudge's now disinherited and almost broke widow had cast him out. She had no intention of spending any of what little money she had left feeding, housing and educating her ex-husband's disgusting little bastard. They didn't know what what Ron's great aunt wanted with him, but she was granted guardianship on the understanding that he would be kept away from the rest of the family.

* * *

Even though those behind the Pure Magic Academy wouldn't admit that it wasn't a patch on Hogwarts, many of the students and their parents had already determined that by the time they brought Fudge down, and Minerva had had quite a few of the parents of the ones who had transferred there contacting her to demand that their children be allowed to return to Hogwarts.

These demands were easily addressed by a rule in the Hogwarts Charter that explicitly stated that when a student left Hogwarts, they would not be allowed to return until the next school year. There was another requirement attached to this, for a separate rule in the Charter to be enacted in these circumstances. _T_ _his_ rule required the majority of the Founders' (or the Druid's Council if the Founders were at a stalemate) agreement to allow a prospective student's entry into Hogwarts.

Merlin told them that this had been decided when Hogwarts Charter was being written to give them a mechanism to refuse entry to anyone who was deemed to be a potential threat to Hogwarts, its students or the aims of the Druids' Council. It was agreed that the Hogwarts Board and the Wizengamot could take the place of the Founders and the Druids' Council.

This was important, because they had no intention of _ever_ letting most of the students who had gone to the Pure Magic Academy back into Hogwarts. Most of them were beyond redemption, as their parents' foul teachings were too deeply engrained and they lacked the strength of will or character to throw them off. There was no way that they were letting that kind of corruption back into Hogwarts, if they could learn the skills they desired in _their_ school, so be it, but they would not get them from Hogwarts.

 **Very unpleasant section begins.**

Those students were part of the world that believed what Molly No-name had done to her daughter was acceptable, and none of them wanted any part of that world to touch Hogwarts again if they could prevent it. The mind healers at St Mungo's had eventually extracted what had been done to Ginny Prewett (Charlie had accepted her back into the Prewett family when Arthur became her guardian) from her memories, and they were sickened by what they found.

Molly had not only fed Ginny stories about Harry Potter and how they were fated to be together from when she was a toddler, she had been conditioning her to do whatever she needed to do the ensnare him from when she was seven or eight. Ginny had been forced to practice this with boys that her mother brought in, _and_ her half brother Ronald, and she had lost her innocence and virginity before she was ten. All the while, Molly kept telling her that she had to be very good at this if she wanted to have Harry Potter because all the other girls wanted him as well, so she had to make sure that she was better than all of them.

When Amelia heard this, she had her daughter's memories of what had been done to her inserted into Molly No-Name's head and ordered that the magic suppression be turned on permanently for her Red Letter mark. That foul creature deserved death for what she had done to her daughter, but they couldn't get that ordered without dragging Ginny through everything that was done to her and further harming her, so the best retribution that they could enforce on Molly was to make her live out her miserable existence in Azkaban, with those memories, the Dementors, no magic and a constantly burning mark. It had been bad enough for Amelia to hear that in the last cycle, a sweet girl like Dora had become hardened and accustomed to having sex with men who expected it after she left Hogwarts, hearing that Ginny had been forced down that path before she had even _**started**_ Hogwarts broke her heart.

It took the mind healers over nine months of intensive work to scrub all of what had been done to her from Ginny's memories, replacing them with memories of a more normal, acceptable and happier childhood. They allowed the less traumatic memories of what happened while she was with her father to remain, to provide the basis of an explanation for what happened later. When they were confident that the new memories had taken and she would be OK, Ginny started back at Hogwarts, taking up her studies at the same place she'd been when she had been expelled a year before. Only the Nobles group, Madame Maxime and some of the staff knew what had happened to Ginny, or what she'd done to be expelled. Harry and Hermione, as the heirs to all four Founders, approved her return to Hogwarts to keep her story from anyone else.

Though she wasn't made part of the Nobles Group, they took her under their wing, much like they had Padma's twin Parvati. The twins used the excuse that she was their half-sister to include her whenever they could, and the few boys who were still at Hogwarts who wanted to take up with her where they had left off before she was expelled very quickly got the message from _all_ of the Nobles Group that Ginny Prewett was untouchable, and they _would_ be hurt if they tried anything with her. The other students were also warned that taunting Ginny about anything had happened previously would result in punishment.

They realised that this also explained why Ronald had turned out the way he did to a degree, but it was agreed that he was incorrigible, from Ginny's memories he had believed that it was his right to do those things to his half-sister, and their experience with him showed that in his mind the same thing now applied to any other girls that he wanted. No, Ronald Fudge would not be allowed to set foot in Hogwarts again, and he _certainly_ would not be allowed anywhere near Ginny or the other girls. If he tried anything with any of them, they would destroy him. They removed his memories of what had happened with Ginny and left him in his world, they also did the same with the other boys involved that they could locate.

 **Very unpleasant section ends.**

Because there was no way most of the students of the Pure Magic Academy would be getting back into Hogwarts, Beauxbatons was closed to them and many of the didn't make the grade for Durmstrang (it may have shared the Pureblood philosophy, but it would not accept students who could not add to the glory of Durmstrang), the Pure Magic Academy had to stay open. The traditionalists weren't at all happy that they were locked into supporting a school that had proven to be as second rate as they had originally suspected it would be, and they weren't sure how they'd been conned into agreeing to support the creation of this school in the first place.

They had accepted the evidence and proposals that Fudge had presented because they knew that Fudge wasn't capable of making that up, so they took them to be real. What they were seeing after just a month of operation though was that they were supporting a second rate school being run out of an old mansion, where their children were not learning anything. What many of them were hanging onto was the belief that their children would be returning to Hogwarts to get a proper education again in the new school year. Of course, most of them were fated to be in for major disappointments when they approached Hogwarts over the Summer break.

* * *

Her advancing pregnancy was slowing Fleur down more and more as she worked on her studies through January, February and March, but the twins' delivery came relatively easily to her. She was a year younger than Hermione had been when she had her son, but thanks to her Veela heritage, she was more developed, so it was easier for her than it had been for Hermione. Hermione was only half joking when she pointedly said that having her babies a few months _before_ her NEWTs instead of a few months _after_ her NEWTs was _also_ much easier for her.

Harry, Hermione, Fleur, Penny and Hagrid all did the last of their NEWTs in nineteen ninety four. Harry was thirteen, Hermione was fourteen, Fleur was seventeen, Penny was eighteen, and Hagrid was in his mid sixties, but he was no less excited than the teenagers. They would all be staying on to work on their masteries the next school year (and Hagrid was teaching, of course).

The other fourteen had all done the NEWTs for most of their core subjects and easiest electives. Penny and some of the others were having a hard time not feeling too inadequate when Gabi and Tori, at twelve, got results that were as good or better than their's, but they were none the less happy to celebrate their achievements.

Once the ninety three, ninety four school year finished, the expected deluge of demands for the Pure Magic Academy students to return to Hogwarts commenced. One of the criteria for sitting on the Hogwarts Board was to have a child currently enrolled at Hogwarts (an interesting caveat on this being that once a child started at Hogwarts, they were enrolled for eight years unless they were expelled or transferred elsewhere, this had been written into the rules to allow for advanced students who were remaining at Hogwarts while they were studying for their masteries), so none of the traditionalist Pureblood families held a seat on the Board any more. For this reason, it was a simple matter for the Hogwarts Board to reject most of these _requests_ immediately.

The only requests which received any real consideration were from families who claimed that they had been pressured into sending their children to the Pure Magic Academy, and of these, only a dozen families managed to convince the Board with proof of this and got their children back into Hogwarts. It was no coincidence that these were the Wizengamot members who had abandoned the traditionalist factions and joined the neutral factions in the Wizengamot as soon as Fudge had been arrested and it appeared to be safe to do so without repercussions for their families.

This was a further blow to the Pure Magic Academy, because those fifteen students had been among the best and brightest at the school, and most of the rest of the cream of the crop were transferring to Durmstrang, because they could manage to get in there. The people running the Pure Magic Academy were being threatened to improve the quality of the education being offered by the time classes started in September or else by the parents who had been forced to accept that their children would have to remain at the school, and they couldn't run because they were being watched by the parents.

These same parents were enraged when they were hit up for sizeable 'donations' to improve the facilities at the school, and then had to pay four or five times what the school fees had cost them at Hogwarts because there were so fewer students at the Academy and it didn't have the funds behind it to soak up some of the costs like Hogwarts did.

Between the debacle of their Pureblood school, and the fact that they had lost both their figurehead, and their influence in the Ministry when Fudge was arrested and put through the Veil of Death for ordering the attack on Harry and the others, the traditionalists were not having a good time of it.


	11. Cleaning House and Reconciliations

**Still here, been reading some fun old stories and catching up on shows and movies that are coming out. The words are only coming to me 1.5 – 2 K at a time just now, not like I usually sit down and lay down a chapter in one go.**

 **OK, quick score card update. Fleur has had her babies, twin Veela girls. With a little help from Bagnold, Fudge got his Pureblood school started and all of the traditional Pureblood students at Hogwarts transferred to it, only to find that they couldn't get back into Hogwarts when they found out how bad it was. Fudge Senior did something stupid enough to be sent through the Veil of Death and his widow kicked Ronald out, so he's with his great aunt Muriel now. (They deserve each other ;^)**

 **Arthur is now Minister for Magic and Bill and Dora got married, using the excuse that it was so Bill's new mother-in-law could take over the Weasley and Prewett voting proxies. Harry found a cure for Lycanthropy in Salazar's notes and it worked, so Remus and Narcissa are married too, and Draco supported his mother at their wedding. They discovered what made Ginny the way she was and the mind healers helped her with that, so she's back as Ginny Prewett and being supported by the family, while Molly is being punished for it, but not as much as she should be. Oh, and Harry, Hermione, Fleur, Penny and Hagrid have finished doing their NEWTs, so they're just working on their masteries now.**

 **Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.**

While Molly and Ronald No-Name would not accept that they had ever done anything wrong, and probably _never_ would, seeing his mother in Azkaban, Arthur Weasley's well deserved rise to Minister, his own birth father in Azkaban for life and the other two men that she had cuckolded Arthur with and had children to while she was married to him sent through the Veil of Death for their crimes made Percy Crouch open his eyes and see his family for what it was. Percy had suffered the guardianship of his great aunt Muriel (the only one left on his mother's side of the family who would have anything to do with him after his mother shamed the family that way) up until he reached his majority and quickly came to realise that he didn't agree with the views that she and his mother held. When he reflected on that, Percy swallowed his pride and wrote a sincere apology to the man who had been the only real father he had ever known.

Percy didn't ask for anything but understanding for what he had done to his family with the way _he_ had acted, as a child, at his mother's trial and after that. He congratulated Arthur on getting the position that he so rightfully deserved and thanked him for being a good father to him as he was growing up, in spite of his mother's best efforts. Even though his mother had tried to mould him in her own image, Percy had picked up some of the values of Arthur Weasley along the way and discovered that he _could_ tell right from wrong when given enough of a push.

Arthur shared the letter with Amelia, Bill, Charlie and the twins and they all agreed with him that Percy seemed to have become a decent man in spite of his mother, so they reached out to him in reconciliation. Percy may never be _in_ the family again, but they were prepared to accept and support him. He had already started as a junior at the Ministry (getting in on his own merits, as he had had no-one to sponsor him), and Arthur made a recommendation to get him transferred into the Department of Magical Co-operation, as it was agreed that he could do well there.

The real proof that Percy had changed was in how he reacted to the twins' sudden change of station soon after that. With Fudge and most of their big challenges out of the way, Minerva, Griselda, Augusta and Alastor had spent some time discussing the matter of carrying on the lines of their houses. Neville was the Heir to the House of Longbottom, and Alastor had made Hermione Heiress to the House of Moody, but as they'd both lost their partners and children in the wizarding wars of the twentieth Century, Minerva and Griselda had no-one to carry on their Houses.

They wanted to support the continuing fight against the dark but to do that, they had to decide who would best carry on the traditions of their houses. In the end, they made their decisions and, to the surprise of nearly everyone, Minerva went though the formal godmother ritual with Fred Weasley to make him heir to the Noble and Ancient House of McGonagall. Griselda did the same with George, to make him heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Marchbanks.

The Percy that they grew up with would have been enraged that his two younger (half) brothers had become the heirs to two such rich and powerful Noble and Ancient Houses that were part of the most powerful alliance that had existed for centuries in Magical Britain when he had only inherited an almost broke Minor House with a _very_ tarnished reputation, so they told him once the arrangements had been made to see how he'd react. Arthur and the twins hadn't wanted to test Percy like this, but they reluctantly agreed that this would tell them whether he'd really changed when Griselda, Amelia, Andi and Narcissa proposed it, and Percy passed the test with flying colours.

He was shocked, to say the least, when he was told that his little brothers had become the heirs to houses like McGonagall and Marchbanks, but once he got over that shock and past the obvious questions about how this had happened, he was happy for them and complimented Minerva and Griselda on choosing such capable heirs. They had felt bad about probing his mind through this but they agreed that they had to be sure. What they saw in his head though was that he was genuinely glad for his brothers, and for Minerva and Griselda having protected their houses from ending with them.

* * *

As soon as he had his feet under him in the Minister's role, Arthur started cleaning house in the Ministry. First to go on the chopping block was the Department of Magical Education, the Head and most of the department (including Mafalda Hopkirk) were dismissed and banned from the Ministry for ignoring their responsibilities to the Ministry and Magical Britain by not doing _any_ useful work and allowing Fudge to use the department as nothing more than a tool to attack Lord Potter and Lady Granger. Griselda had the department added to her portfolio and hired new staff who _would_ focus on the advancement of education in Magical Britain. They also kept a close eye on the Pure Magic Academy, assisting the Wizarding Examination Authority by overseeing _all_ exams and reporting the results to Griselda.

A number of other departments which had been inadequately run by Fudge's cronies were also cleaned out, one in particular was the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Most of the long term ones in this department had only been interested in having a free hand to torment and kill magical creatures for their own enjoyment, and that had been largely directed at the other magical races who had previously come under its control.

They were replaced by a team of actual experts in Care of Magical Creatures, and Harry visited the known British dragon sites with them to explain to the dragons that if they kept to their valleys they would be left alone, if not they would have trouble with the humans. Of course, some of the dragons took this as a challenge, but word quickly spread through the dragons about what happened when they attacked this new speaker, and how incredibly powerful he was (they didn't know that this was Harry, Hermione and Fleur together). Dragons were rational beings for the most part, and most of them agreed to stay in their valleys when faced with the options.

The ones who Fudge had previously refused Arthur and Amelia permission to fire when they came under their control because they wouldn't work were reviewed, dismissed and banned from the Ministry in Arthur's first week in the job.

Another program that they had been running quietly and the family had been funding was putting the registered werewolves through Slytherin's process to cure their Lycanthropy. One of the first things Arthur did after he became the Minister for Magic was to make this a mandatory Ministry funded requirement for known werewolves.

As expected, there was a lot of argument in the Wizengamot against this proposal, but they presented over fifty cases where St Mungo's had certified them to be completely cured of their Lycanthropy. This, when combined with the figures presented to show cost of maintaining the Werewolf registration process and the benefits of turning them into productive members of society, was enough to trample over the objections and the motion was passed.

The fact that it was only under Arthur that the dangerous rogue werewolves like Fenrir Greyback had been tracked down and eliminated helped drive home the fact that the new Minister had been instrumental in actually stamping out the werewolf problem that the Ministry had always talked so much about but had never done anything to address. The rogue werewolves who were a danger to Magical Britain had been left alone because they were too dangerous to take on, but the innocents who had been turned by them (many of them children) had been hounded by the Ministry and many of them had been killed at the Ministry's instigation.

* * *

The _biggest_ job on the agenda though was Azkaban, or more specifically the Dementors at Azkaban. Harry and Fleur were the only ones who were known to be able to destroy Dementors, so they were at the core of the strategy to wipe them out. Hermione joined Harry and Fleur so that they could use the multiplier effect that they had together. While they were hoping that they could catch the Dementors together and wipe them out in one go, they weren't going to rely on that. Anne, Apolline and a few dozen of the most powerful Veela were the secondary force, and they would also have squads of Aurors who were capable of casting a strong patronus on hand to herd the Dementors back into the kill zone. They had every intention of wiping out the threat of the Dementors in one fell swoop.

When they had everything organised and ready to go, Amelia called for a closed emergency session of the Wizengamot and they sprung the vote to wipe out the Dementors on the Wizengamot. They used the proven fact that nefarious elements of the Ministry had inserted the Dementors into the third task of the Triwizard Tournament to try and assassinate a key figure of the aristocracy of Magical Britain, and the daughter and heir of the Deputy Minister of Magic for France, and evidence of how the Dementors had joined Voldemort in the first Wizarding war against the Ministry and people of Magical Britain to show that they were in fact primarily a _threat_ to Magical Britain. Then they presented the evidence that they now had a proven way to destroy the Dementors, something that had been believed to be impossible before Lord Potter proved otherwise.

Amelia trotted out the evidence of how effective the Red Letter Marks were at tracking, monitoring and controlling prisoners and other questionable characters and proposed that they affix the Mark to _all_ prisoners, pointing out that this way, they could be tracked and monitored when they were outside of prison as well as inside. Some of the old school traditionalists tried to argue against getting rid of the Dementors, using the tired old lines that the Dementors were loyal to the Ministry and were the only proven deterrent. When others reminded them that it had been _proven_ that the Dementors _weren't_ loyal to the Ministry, they tried to use Amelia's statement to insist that Harry could deal with them if they got out of hand again, so there was no reason to get rid of them. Amelia cut that argument off and turned to address Harry, up in the Noble and Most Ancient boxes.

"Lord Potter, may I ask something of you please?"

Harry nodded. "You may Director Bones."

"If the Dementors were to break out of Azkaban or change sides to support an enemy of Magical Britain again, will you stop them again?"

"I can neither promise nor commit to something like that Madam Bones…." He went on before the expected outrage broke out in the chamber. "My associates and I have agreed to support the proposal that you and Minister Weasley have brought to us, because it appears quite workable, corner the Dementors en-mass inside a location that we can control, such as at Azkaban, and then wipe them out with one concerted effort….. _This_ is something that we can and do support as we can see how it could succeed without undue hardship or risk to those involved. Attempting to hunt down and destroy the dementors once they have left Azkaban and are rampaging across the land, or even abroad, however….. _That_ is an endeavour that could only bring hardship and danger to those involved and everyone else, so I am unwilling to commit myself and my associates to such an endeavour!"

The ones who had been arguing that _he_ could stop the Dementors if they broke out started shouting that he was a coward for refusing to help stop them, but he drowned them out.

" _ **Me! A coward? My associates and I have agreed to do our best to eliminate the threat of the Dementors in the controlled conditions that Madam Bones and Minister Weasley have proposed, but because I have refused to commit to our attempting to do so in the unknown and more dangerous conditions that would exist once they broke out of Azkaban due to YOUR refusal to agree to this attempt for a controlled removal of the threat, you dare call ME a coward? If YOUR stupidity prevails, YOU can eliminate the threat of the Dementors yourself, I will not put everything that I hold dear at risk on the whim of pathetic cowards such as YOU!"**_

He turned back to face Amelia and continued at a much more moderate tone and volume. "To be clear Madam Bones, our agreement to assist applies _**only**_ to the controlled exercise that we have discussed. If these fools prevail, we will be forced to marshal our forces to protect ourselves and so Magical Britain and other countries will have to fend for themselves!"

Amelia bowed to him. "I quite understand Lord Potter, and I do apologise for my part in forcing you to endure these baseless accusations from those who lack the courage to address this threat themselves."

Arthur stood and bowed to him as well. "I, too, apologise for my part in this Lord Potter. I am ashamed to have to represent the likes of such as these, who would falsely accuse you so."

Harry waved this away. "Please do not apologise for things that you are blameless in Madam Bones, Minister. The fault and shame in this is not your's, it is **their's**!" He finished his statement by stabbing his finger at the traditionalists who were arguing against them.

Griselda cut in at that point. "I applaud the nobility you display here Lord Potter, but I too am ashamed by the behaviour of members of the Wizengamot today!"

She looked around the chamber in disgust.

"Very well, as all the _relevant_ information has now been presented by Madam Bones and Lord Potter, I hereby call for the vote on Madam Bones' proposal, noting that if this proposal is _**not**_ passed, then the danger presented by the Dementors will need to be addressed by anyone who finds themselves subsequently facing them!"

Presented so bluntly with the alternative to voting for Amelia's proposal, the vast majority of the Wizengamot voted for the elimination to be carried out in Azkaban as proposed. Only the most stubborn of the die hard traditionalists voted against the proposal.

As soon as it was passed, Alastor immediately moved that the session be concluded and Augusta jumped up to second it. Griselda pronounced the session finished and they all stood and walked out without a word as they had everything ready to go. They did not want to take the risk that Bagnold (as the previous Minister) or her people might have some way of communicating with the Dementors to warn them of what was planned, so the force that they had assembled for the job port keyed straight to Azkaban from the Ministry and the other sites where they were waiting.

* * *

The warden and picked guards were waiting for them at Azkaban, so Harry, Hermione and Fleur went straight into the prison, heading for the chambers below where the Dementors normally accumulated. Anne, Apolline and other Veela went in on their heels, to deal with the Dementors that were prowling about the prison.

The rest of the immediate family and their familiars waited outside the prison with the other Veela and family members with strong patroni, while the island was ringed by Aurors on brooms, ready to drive the Dementors back to the prison if they tried to escape, and some some transformed Veela as well.

The actual elimination was anti-climactic, as the vast majority of the Dementors were incinerated quickly by the massive blast of Fiendfyre that Harry, Hermione and Fleur combined to cast into the chambers underneath the prison, and they couldn't get past the trio to escape the prison. Some of the Dementors who were roaming the prison evaded the Veela fireballs sent their way and got out of the prison, but they were driven back by the Aurors' patroni and fell to either the fireballs, or Harry and the girls as they popped around the prison to assist in the clean up operation. It was all over in less than half an hour.

Harry, the family, the Veela and most of the Aurors left as soon as they were confident that they had eliminated _all_ of the Dementors, but Amelia and Kingsley remained behind to supervise the placing of the Red Letter Mark on those prisoners who weren't currently marked.

The session had been closed and the members of the Wizengamot had been admonished to keep what was discussed a secret, but none of them were surprised to hear that a rather twisted version of the details was already being bandied about far and wide by the time they returned from Azkaban less than an hour after the session was closed. Arthur and Amelia officially gave Xeno all the details to write an accurate article on the matter, with Amelia filling in the final details when she and Kingsley returned from the island. Xeno put it out as a special edition as soon as Amelia confirmed the final details to refute the wild stories that Bagnold's people were trying to spread.

Reading the cold, hard facts about the Dementors and what they had done since they were discovered in Azkaban hundreds of years before did much to dispel the outrage and fear that Bagnold's people were trying to stir up, and the majority of Magical Britain came to applaud it as a wondrous thing that had been done and give thanks to those who had done it.

* * *

With the biggest dangers to Magical (and Muggle) Britain now addressed, Arthur formally introduced himself to the British Prime Minister as the new Minister for Magic (he had liaised with the Prime Minister before on matters that had spilled over into the Non-magical world. This was supposed to have been the Minister for Magic's responsibility but he'd fobbed it off onto Arthur as soon as he took charge of the Department of Foreign Affairs).

As the consummate politician, the Prime Minister sensed that there was something that Arthur was not telling him behind the wondrous news that the majority of the magical causes for mayhem spilling over into the non-magical world had now been eliminated. He was furious that Fudge, who had already been the Minister for Magic when he was elected to be the Prime Minister, had kept so much from him or outright lied about that had been happening and why, but he was also suspicious about _how_ all of these horrors had been eliminated.

After Arthur let it slip that Harry and Hermione had told them how to deal with the problems and in many instances had dealt with them themselves, he had to admit that they had come back to their younger bodies after they died in the future. This of course required proof to convince the Prime Minister that they had come back, so Hermione reported on a number of events that were due to happen, just before they happened.

The timing was an attempt to prevent triggering too many changes in the future, Hermione especially was quite aware of the theories about how going back in time and changing the events that were supposed to happen could have significant effects on the future. She also knew that they had probably _already_ initiated changes by stopping Voldemort and the other horrors that they had, but they were hoping that the majority of _those_ future changes would be restricted to Magical Britain, with minimal overspill into the non-magical world. This was why she was careful to keep what she reported to events which hopefully had more local impact and only released these reports just before they happened. A letter explaining this was included with the first report that she gave the Prime Minister.

What they couldn't have foreseen was the fact that, once the Prime Minister was convinced that they _had_ returned from the future, he took the story of these extraordinary teenagers who had come back in time to right wrongs straight to the Queen. When she heard that, the Queen immediately wanted to talk to these young people, and the rest of the family. She was interested enough to offer to come to Balmoral Castle for the meeting so as to make it more private. As the oldest Noble Houses of Magical Britain (probably all of Britain), the family respected the monarchy, and they were not about to refuse the request of their Queen.

They arrived at Balmoral Castle in a cavalcade of classic limousines, Mercedes 600 Pullmans, Lincoln Continental Executive Limousines from 1963 to 1969 and Rolls Royce Long Wheelbase Phantom I & IIs, plus Phantom III, IV, V & VIs and Silver Spur Extended Touring Limousines. These had all come from the 'garage' at Potter Manor. This garage held hundreds of rare and classic performance and luxury cars and motorbikes from all over the world, more than a few of which were magically created duplicates of one off cars like the Lister Maserati, the Shelby Daytona and quite a few concept cars, so most of these were exact copies of cars and bikes that no longer existed otherwise. The garage magically expanded to accommodate the ever growing collection that went back to before the start of the twentieth century without any breaks, and kept them in stasis, so they were all as new, or very close to it.

This cavalcade raised quite a few eyebrows when it arrived at Balmoral, but each car stopped at the main entrance just long enough for its passengers to disembark and then headed off to join the growing line of limousines parked off to the side. The soldiers guarding the estate had no idea that the limo drivers were all Elves or Goblins under glamours. They left their wands and the like in the cars to avoid possible tension or issues with the guards (at Arthur's suggestion, nearly a quarter of the Queen's guard were now Muggleborn witches and wizards who'd gone back to the non-magical world, and that ratio would increase as more were trained to the required standards), most of them were quite capable without their wands, but this wasn't shared with the guards.

* * *

Even though they had researched the group that was coming, the Queen and most of those present still got a shock when a number of the family members were introduced. They were expecting to hear of the three Earl's and four Baron's titles attached to the House of Potter for Harry, but not the other two Earl's and three Baron's titles for that house. _Or_ the two Earl's and three Baron's titles for the House of Peverell, Earl and two Barons each for the Houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin and four Baron's titles for the British House of Flamel, or the fact that he was Heir to the titles and holdings of the mighty House of Black and the ancient and powerful Noble House of Flamel in France, and Lord to Hermione and Millie's Houses as well.

When Sirius was announced, he also had twice the two Earl's and three Baron's titles that were expected. Hermione had the expected Baroness Granger title, but she had another two Countess and four Baroness titles from the Houses of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and was Heiress to another three Baroness titles through the House of Moody. On top of that, she was Countess to the Houses of Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin.

As the House names and titles were announced for each of them, the Queen's assistants were madly scribbling down everything that was said. It wasn't missed that the tall, slender, elegant young Lord Potter, who hardly looked sixteen if that, had at least three wives, and three other girls who were obviously linked to him, and he already had two children as well. Some of the other men in the group obviously had two partners as well.

* * *

When the entire party had been presented to Her Majesty the Queen, she looked pointedly at the family groups and said. "We feel that an explanation is required here. Is it not known that bigamy is illegal in Britain?"

They all looked at Ted, as their legal expert, and he stepped forward, bowing to the Queen. When he was recognised, he asked leave to have the relevant legal documents brought to them so that he may explain. The Queen nodded, but gasped a moment later when the Tonks' house elf popped in, heard what Ted wanted and popped out again. She was disturbed enough by the sight to blurt out. "What was _that_ Lord Tonks?"

Ted realised that the sight of Polly had shocked, and possibly frightened, the Queen and he hastened to apologise. "I am so sorry Your Majesty! The elves are so common for us that I forgot that they must be a bizarre sight for others! That was the house elf bonded to our family Ma'am, Polly. Polly is more of a member of the family than a servant to us, but I must admit that many elves are still treated like slaves and are severely mistreated by the families that they are bonded to. The elves who are personally bonded to Lord and Lady Potter were terribly treated before they were freed from their previous families…." He paused and glanced at Narcissa. "Not that all members of their previous families mistreated them! Lord Potter's elf Dobby was previously with Lady Lupin's ex-husband's family, which she had been forced to marry into as a teenager, but he will attest to the fact that that mistreatment never came from her!"

The Queen looked at the regal lady who had just been referred to and quirked a smile at the polite defiance in the gaze she returned. His last comment brought her back to the matter at hand though. "We are certain that Lady Lupin would be a fair handed mistress, however, you have brought us to the issue that we wish explained. Why have these young ladies and gentlemen been forced to marry and start families at such a young age?"

Daphne stepped forward at that and curtsied to the Queen, waiting to be recognised. When the Queen did so, she spoke up. "With all due respect Your Majesty, _none_ of us have been forced to marry. Most of us chose to go into betrothal contracts with each other to protect ourselves from being forced into unions against our wills by the previous Minister for Magic."

The Queen looked at Ted for an explanation of that, but Andi stepped forward and curtsied. Sensing that the explanation was about to go in a different direction, the Queen indicated for her to speak.

"Thank you your Majesty. The information that Polly will be bringing back for my husband soon will help explain Miss Greengrass's statement, but I feel that before we get to that, we need to explain the society of Magical Britain. You see Ma'am, the traditional magical Noble Houses who have ruled Magical Britain to date still hold to the laws and rules that existed five hundred years ago, in fact some of these rules actually date back a thousand years. Under these Noble House rules, each house is expected to, and can be _required_ to, produce an heir for the head or heir to the house. When a Lord, or more rarely, a Lady, is the head or heir to more than one house, they are expected to produce an heir for each house, so polygamy is actually mandated for them…."

She glanced at Harry. "Lord Potter's immediate family is the most extreme case of this that has been seen in the recorded history of Magical Britain, because with the two French Houses, it includes fourteen houses. He himself is head or heir to seven houses, one of them French. The reason that there are only six brides or brides-to-be however is that Lady Granger is the head of three houses and heiress to another. Lady Bustrode is head of her house and the elder Greengrass and Delacour sisters are also the heiresses to their houses. The younger Greengrass and Delacour sisters are the only ones who do not themselves have to maintain the lines for their houses."

The Queen was looking astounded by this stage, but she was cut off as she asked "And the children?…." by the return of Polly. This time, Ted introduced Polly to the Queen, and Polly was pleased as punch to have met the Master and Mistress's Queen when she popped out again after a short but pleasant conversation with her.

Once Polly left, Ted went on. "With your permission Ma'am, I think it would be easier to explain the children after we have properly explained what we have done to address the issues that came out of those rules that my wife advised you of?" The Queen nodded regally. "Thank you Ma'am."

Ted handed a copy of the Heritage Protection Act to one of the Queen's personal assistants to present to her as he continued. "This Act, Ma'am, is what Miss Greengrass was referring to about being forced into unions by the previous Minister for Magic. It has since been abolished because it was misused by the Ministry the two times it has been enacted since it was brought in in the Goblin Rebellions two hundred years ago. They tried to use it to force all of our people who they could claim to fit the requirements of the Act into unions with families who were in the pocket of the Minister, to gain control of their power and fortunes..."

He glanced at Harry. "Lord Potter had serious trouble with the Minister and others trying to control him in the life he returned from, and was concerned that the Minister would come after us with something terrible…. I realise that this may sound paranoid Ma'am, but as the old saying goes, you aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you, and Harry has never been wrong when he was worried about things coming at us, so we started looking at what they might use to come at us….."

"Our Greengrass ladies' father, Max, is a quite astute and clever member of our Wizengamot and as a concerned father he made himself aware of what laws existed that may effect his daughters. Max brought up the Heritage Protection Act and when we discussed it we agreed that it was just the type of thing that the Minister would try to use against us. I will leave you to peruse it at your leisure Ma'am, but in essence it stated that in times of war, and if the continuation of Noble Houses was threatened, the Ministry had the power to force unattached heads or heirs of Noble Houses who do not have heirs into unions to continue their lines. The Ministry could also force unattached witches of childbearing age into unions to carry this out. Once it was agreed that it was likely that the Ministry would try to force this onto our children, we sat down to try and come up with a way to protect them."

"Lady Granger is quite brilliant Ma'am, and she quickly determined that to protect all of our people who came under the terms of the Act, and a couple of others who are associated with us, such as Miss Patil's twin sister, we would have to arrange over thirty unions. This of course seemed quite impossible until I remembered another law that was passed back in the days of the Goblin Rebellions. This law was passed to permit couples who both had houses to continue to enter into both male and female line continuation betrothal contracts and marriages. Under the terms of this law, their progeny would alternate between the houses, the eldest would be the heir to the male line, the next to the female line and so forth."

"With all of the parents and children's agreement, we entered everyone likely to be effected by the Heritage Protection Act into legal betrothal contracts, with clauses to say that marriage and the consummation of the marriage wasn't to be considered until both parties had reached the age of majority. The reason for doing this, Ma'am, was that the last time it was enacted, children were being forced to marry older wizards, and witches as well, and because of that they were forced, as children, to have sex with these disgusting _people_. We did not want any of our family to have to endure this, so we took every measure we could to prevent it."

He handed a bundle of parchments to the Queen's assistant to take to her. "These are the betrothal contracts we set in place at that time, plus the other two that came later, Ma'am. We lodged the main group of contracts in November nineteen ninety one, and in January nineteen ninety two, we saw the proof that we weren't just being paranoid…."

He saw Harry go to say something. "No Harry, _we_ , you voiced your concerns first but as soon as you did so the rest of us saw that they were quite possible and likely, that's why we pulled out all stops to do something about it."

"Anyway Ma'am, we got our proof when Harry, Hermione and most the others we were expecting to be targeted received notices from the Ministry that they were being entered into betrothal contracts by the Ministry under the Heritage Protection Act. A number of other families who had opposed the Ministry had been targeted with this as well. We took them to court and had the Ministry contracts dismissed for our people and everyone else who had listened to our warnings and entered into legal betrothal contracts. The Chief Witch (Countess Marchbanks), who presides over the Wizengamot, used the proof that we had supplied that the Ministry had ignored the strict conditions imposed on the Heritage Protection Act to use it to try to destroy its enemies both times it had been enacted to have the Act abolished, and she also had another law that the previous Minister and Chief Wizard had pushed through earlier that year to allow them to overrule any legal wills and seize everything belonging to a house if the last member of the house died before they reached their majority abolished. That one had been specifically passed to seize Harry's fortune Ma'am."

"As for the last two betrothals Ma'am, we had confirmation that events of the last cycle were repeating themselves when the Ministry of Magic brought the Quidditch World Cup Match to Britain. Harry and Hermione warned us what was likely to happen at the World Cup and Amelia, Madam Bones, as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had made arrangements to have appropriate forces available to come in the moment the so-called Death Eaters arrived. We took them down and captured most of them, but the one who was behind them had made anyone who knew anything take oaths of secrecy that killed them if they tried to talk. Luckily we caught onto what was happening soon enough to prevent killing the one who knew the most, and found another way to get what he knew out of his head without triggering the secrecy oath."

"What was perhaps more important to the family though was that most of us attended the World Cup and we met Fleur and Gabrielle's family there, as their father is the Deputy Minister for Magic for France and he was here as part of the planning for another event. This was something else Harry and Hermione were expecting to be repeated, especially as Fleur had been part of it last time, as had the young seeker for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team. Sure enough, in the next school year, the Ministry of Magic forced the return of a wizards' tournament that had been banned two hundred years before because the death and mayhem in it was simply too much to bear. Harry had been forced to participate in this against his will the last time around, so we fully expected him to be made to participate again, he was, and the vindictive bas…. I'm so sorry Ma'am, I forgot myself for a moment, it won't happen again. The British Ministry official made the repercussions far more strict than they'd been before. This time anyone who was selected to participate but didn't not only lost their magic, they _died!"_

"I'm getting ahead of myself though Ma'am, when Minerva, that's Countess McGonagall, the Headmistress at Hogwarts, was forced to allow the tournament to be held at Hogwarts, we went to France to warn the Delacours about what happened last time, because both of their daughters had almost died in it then. Unfortunately, the French Minister for Magic had already threatened to hound the entire family out of France if they tried to keep Fleur out of the tournament, so she was being forced to come back to Britain. The main problem was that…." He stopped and looked at Fleur, who nodded, saying. "Oui Oncle Ted, tell Her Majesty." He nodded gratefully and turned back to the Queen.

"The main problem is that Fleur and Gabrielle aren't exactly human Ma'am, they are Veela." He held up a hand to forestall the obvious question. "Veela are half-human Ma'am, born of the union of a Veela and a human wizard. Veela are all beautiful women and have quite a few powers that witches and wizards do not. Among them is the Veela allure, the ability to drive men, and many women, mad with desire. As a result of this, Veela have the undeserved reputation of being very sexual beings who are capable of fulfilling a man's every desire. The Veela abandoned Britain two centuries ago to escape the British wizards trying to bind them to them so that they could live out their fantasies. The British Wizards hadn't forgotten them though and when the Bulgarian National team brought Veela mascots to the World Cup, their tents were raided during the so-called Death Eater attack in an attempt to abduct them and make them into sex slaves. Luckily, the Veela mascots had come to our tents where they could be protected, so they were saved from the planned abductions."

"Arthur told the Delacours about this, and asked if there was anyone who they trusted that Fleur could be betrothed to, in hope that that would give her a degree of protection, because it would be presumed that they had had sex and it was known that Veela would bond to the first man they have sex with and then reject every other man quite violently. Unfortunately the Delacours had no-one who they could trust to do this for them, so Harry proposed that she be betrothed to him as the Heir to the main French branch of the House of Flamel. After we explained how we'd done this for the rest of them, Louis, Comte Delacour, requested that Harry enter into separate male and female line betrothal contracts to protect both of his daughters, and Harry agreed."

He saw the Queen looking at Harry with a bemused expression and snorted. "Yes, Your Majesty, Harry has a habit of doing this sort of thing to protect the people he cares about, and those he feels deserve protection as well, like those Veela mascots at the World Cup."

"Anyway, the only change to the ones participating in the Triwizard Tournament this time was the Hogwarts Champion, last time it had been young Cedric here, but the organisers had been forced to officially restrict it to those who had reached their majority again, and Cedric was only fifteen. One of the Pureblood bullies at Hogwarts, Marcus Flint, became the the Hogwarts Champion, and Harry later worked out that all four Champions' entries had been rigged. The British and French Ministries were trying to get Harry and Fleur killed in the Tournament, the Bulgarian Ministry was trying to use the sixteen year old Viktor Krum, the youngest member of a National Quidditch team in centuries, to drum up more publicity for Bulgaria and the British Ministry tried to set up so that Flint would win so that they'd look good."

"The Tournament was panning out just the same way it had the first time Harry participated, in the first task they had to face dragons..."

Ted was cut off by the Queen. "Excuse me Lord Tonks, did you say _**dragons**_?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Just how large were these dragons?"

"I'm afraid I don't know Ma'am, I wasn't there, but I believe that they were quite large."

Harry spoke up then. "Excuse me Your Majesty, but would you like to see them?"

"Indeed we would Lord Potter, but that cannot be possible, can it?"

"Actually, it is Ma'am, if you wish it."

"Well in that case Lord Potter, yes please, we would be most appreciative of that."

* * *

Harry bowed to her and called for Dobby, getting him to bring his pensieve to them. They spent the next several hours showing his and Hermione's of the current and previous cycles, and others' memories of this cycle as well, explaining what was going on as they went. All of them learned quite a bit as they went through everyone's memories, as Harry and Hermione showed what had happened in the last cycle, while the older ones in the family showed what had happened in the First Wizarding War.

Most of them almost fainted when they saw Harry taking on the dragon in the first task, the basilisk, the Acromantulas, the inferi and Voldemort in the previous cycle, not to mention Harry and Hermione's escape from the Gringotts vaults on the dragon that the goblins had had guarding the vaults. Even Harry got a new perspective on the battle in the Chamber of Secrets, because Fawkes had supplied her memory of the battle, and seeing his tiny form standing in front of the basilisk with a sword in his hand made him wonder how he'd survived, let alone defeated that monster. The memories of the Dementors had magicals and non-magicals alike shrieking, and the awe with which the magicals present stared at Harry after they watched him drive off a hundred of the foul beasts without help told the others what a feat this had been.

Harry and Hermione showed the memory of their deaths when the Prime Minister wanted to see proof of what had happened. There wasn't a dry eye in the room after they watched that, even he was in tears as he apologised for putting them through that again. Sirius asked to see his own death, and afterwards admitted ruefully that it had been his own fault, because he hadn't been taking his crazy cousin seriously enough. Andi and Cissi felt ill as they watched what their sister had become. Cedric watched his own death as well, though he said that the bored order of "Kill the spare!" upset him more than being killed did.

They were all a little shell shocked after watching those memories, but the Queen showed that she was sharper than most thought her (and made of far sterner stuff too, as she had watched all that was shown without showing much fear) when she reminded them that they had still not explained how Harry had come to be already married to three of his wives and have two children at his age (the bombshell of just how old Harry was had not been dropped yet). Ted took up the story again, as he had been telling much of it so far.

* * *

"We have to go back a bit to explain that Ma'am. You've seen how Harry took the risk out of the first task by convincing the nesting mother dragons being brought in that they and their eggs would be safest if they threw the false eggs out of the nests and waited to be taken back to where they were being kept. We had confirmation on the night that the participants were selected that the three tasks were still the same as the last time Harry participated, so we knew that the second task was underwater, at the bottom of the lake beside Hogwarts. This was a problem for Fleur as being underwater separates Veela from the elements that give them strength, and we had already seen from Harry's memories that Fleur had failed this task last time, when she was two years older and had had more time to develop her magic."

"The Delacours called to ask Harry and the ones who were bonded to him to their chateau with their parents or guardians, because they wanted to ask something of us. You see Ma'am, Anne, Fleur and Gabrielle's grandmother, is quite a rarity in the Veela world, there had only been four like her in Veela history. In the magical world, when someone is accepted as the head of an old and powerful house like Harry's, the family magic comes into them and makes them stronger, with that comes the family knowledge, the family secrets, and what Anne experienced when she had her bonding with her mate was the equivalent of that for the entire Veela race, so she became a very powerful font of Veela knowledge."

Ted glanced at Fleur and she nodded, telling him to continue. "It was Anne who wanted to talk to us, because she was hoping to convince Harry to go through the formal bonding ritual with Fleur so that she could gain the power she needed to survive the second task of the Tournament. The thing though was that Anne could _see_ the links between everyone in Harry's immediate family, and especially the strength of the link between him and his primary partner Hermione, so once they had agreed to the bonding to make Fleur safer, Anne insisted that Harry and Hermione needed to have their bonding ritual first, to seal their bond and Hermione's place as the primary mate of the family. While the rest of us could not _see_ the link between Harry and Hermione the way Anne and to a lesser degree other Veela could, it was obvious to us that they were soul mates, so this made sense to us. You must understand Ma'am that, while Harry was twelve and Hermione was thirteen on the outside, on the inside they were eighteen and nineteen and both of them had had intimate relations and children before they were sent back, so the intercourse needed to seal the bond wasn't too much of an issue for them."

"The others in their immediate family felt Harry and Hermione's bonding ritual through the links they had to them, but _everyone_ in the chateau felt the bonding between Harry and Fleur, because there was a massive surge of magical energy that went through the chateau and all of the other girls in the bond and their familiars were knocked out by it. When the girls came to and felt Harry rousing, they ran out to get to him. They all came back a little later with Anne and she explained what had happened, that the bonding that she had been only the fourth in Veela history to have, and which supposedly had only happened every two to three hundred years at most, had happened again with her granddaughter, less than forty years after her own."

"But this wasn't the most astounding thing about Fleur's bonding though, _that_ was the fact that Harry had survived it, as he was the first mate to survive this bonding in recorded history. Every other mate had been burnt out by the massive surge of magical energy as she transformed into the essential Veela. As she was examining everyone, Anne noted significant increases in magical power and changes to everyone in the bond, their familiars as well as the girls. It was when she found traces of Veela magic in all of the girls _and_ Harry, that she realised what had happened, and how he had survived. The reason that Harry hadn't been burnt out by the energy surge was because it had been shared with all of the girls and their familiars."

* * *

"I'm sorry if this appears to be avoiding your question Your Majesty, but Fleur's bonding with Harry was in fact the key to why Harry is already married to Hermione, Fleur and Millicent. You see Anne had explained to us before Harry bonded with Hermione and Fleur why it was that she was so much more powerful than other Veela. She expanded on what she told us later, but basically, for this specific bonding to occur, certain conditions had to be met. Included among these were that the Veela's mate had to be an extraordinary and powerful wizard, they had to have a true bond before the bonding ritual was done, and the Veela had to become pregnant as she lost her virginity in the bonding ritual. These conditions _were_ met in Harry and Fleur's bonding, and that was why she also became what the Veela refer to as an Elder Veela."

"If they act quickly enough Ma'am, Veela have the ability to place their pregnancy in stasis until they are ready to allow it to proceed, and that was what Anne coached Fleur through doing, because she had to finish this damn…. Sorry Ma'am. She had to finish this Tournament to survive, and she wouldn't have survived that if she were pregnant. The boost to her magic from becoming an Elder Veela gave her what she needed to participate in the underwater task, but it was still extremely dangerous for all of them."

"We thought that we had adequately protected Hermione and Gabrielle from being taken to be used as the hostages in this task, but someone had been bright enough to come up with a way to get around our protections, using house elves. Hermione was grabbed at breakfast in the Great Hall at Hogwarts and Gabrielle was grabbed at the same time at Chateau Delacour and they were both spirited away before any of us could do anything. Harry worked out what had happened and forced them to start the task immediately, which saved Hermione and Gabrielle, because they had been set up to die on the bottom of the lake, and Harry and Fleur when they came to save them as well. It would be easier to show you what happened down there than try to tell you Ma'am."

When the Queen agreed to this, they went back into the pensieve. This was the first time most of the others had seen what happened in the Merpeople's village, the girls had looked into Harry's memories while he was unconscious, but they hadn't seen it like this either. Most of them were staring in awe and horror at what he found and what he had had to do down there to get the four girls out of there. They also saw what it had looked like from Fleur's perspective as Harry zoomed up from the depths, hanging onto the four girls he'd rescued. Harry, Hermione, Fleur and Gabrielle also got to see what the rest of them had seen, the huge waves crossing the lake from the massive amounts of water that he had been pushing about when he was clearing the Merpeople away from the girls and them flying up out of the water to land on the deck.

There were heated shouts about what should have been done to those monsters who set the four of them, and the other two girls, up to die at the bottom of the lake. They went on to show the third task and the trials of those who had been involved in planning their deaths. The Queen showed her mettle again in the grim satisfaction she had at the fate of those involved. This brought Ted back to the point that the Queen had been asking about.

* * *

"It was only after the Tournament was finished that Fleur was safe to allow her pregnancy to proceed Ma'am, and with the pregnancy proceeding, she and Harry had to marry to make their child legitimate. It was my wife Andromeda, as Harry's guardian, who pointed out that the Noble House rules stated that Hermione must marry Harry first, as the Head Wife of the family…."

He hesitated and looked at Millie as he said. "There was another as well…." Millie nodded for him to continue and he flashed her a grateful smile before he did so.

"Millicent had been sharing their bed with Harry and Hermione due to the nightmares she had nearly every night if she tried to sleep alone. Millicent had been forced to endure terrible things before she came into the family and these came back to haunt her at night, except when she was with Harry and Hermione..."

Millie could see the question on the Queen and the others lips so she spoke up at that point. "My father took great pleasure in telling me the gory details of what the men he was planning on selling me off to were going to do to me once I was married from when I was old enough to understand what he was saying Your Majesty, and just after I turned twelve, I was grabbed and raped by a group of students at Hogwarts. Harry and the others rescued me from being raped and most of the rapists and my father are in Azkaban for the rest of their lives."

Harry pulled her into his arms to comfort her while the Queen and the others tried to compose themselves after hearing that. When they'd all settled down enough Ted continued.

"Anne had suggested that Millicent performing the bonding ritual with Harry might help her manage her demons, as she'd have the closer bond to Harry, Hermione and Fleur and wouldn't be alone. While she was only thirteen, Millicent agreed as she had already had her virginity taken from her, and she felt safer with Harry and the immediate family than anywhere else. While the bonding ritual did make her link to Harry and the girls much stronger, she still had to be physically with Harry and Hermione to keep the nightmares away, so when Andromeda pointed out that Hermione needed to be married first as the Head Wife, Hermione asked Millicent if she wanted to have her marriages to Harry as well….."

He hesitated. "I should point out something here Your Majesty, under the old laws of Magical Britain, the Bride and Groom must consummate their marriage on their wedding day for it to be accepted as binding, this was why it was only appropriate for Hermione, Fleur and Millicent to get married, as they were the only ones of Harry's betrothed who had experienced that…."

The Queen cut him off at that point. "We distinctly remember you saying that the betrothal contracts created for these children stated that marriage and consummation could not be considered until both parties had reached their majority Lord Tonks. While is is possible that Madame Delacour _may_ have reached that age, we rather doubt that Lord Potter, Lady Granger and Lady Bulstrode have. Explain this please!"

"Yes Ma'am. Well for a start, the Triwizard Tournament had been formally restricted to those who had reached their majority, so when Harry was forced to participate, he was legally deemed to have reached his majority, the same ruling applied to Fleur actually. As for Hermione and Millicent, there was another law passed back in the days of the Goblin Rebellions that stated that if they willingly agreed to be married, the Head of a Noble House was deemed to have reached their majority on their wedding day. Therefore, as heads of Noble and Ancient and above houses, both Hermione and Millicent satisfied that condition by choosing to be married to Harry. So that was the reason that they were all married just after Harry's thirteenth birthday. Hermione and Millicent were also thirteen at the time, and Fleur was sixteen."

That made the Queen look at Harry and the girls, and especially the twins, in confusion. "How is this so? You stated that Madame Delacour allowed her pregnancy to proceed before they were married, but her babies certainly seem rather less than a year old….. You have said that as Veela, Madame Delacour and Mademoiselle Delacour are only half human, is this why the babies took so long to be born?"

"No, Your Majesty, their babies are not quite four months old Ma'am. Harry and his wives have yet to reach the first anniversary of their weddings, so at this point, Harry is still thirteen, Hermione and Millicent are fourteen and Fleur is seventeen."

The Queen stared at Harry in disbelief. This young man seemed to be at least six feet tall and while quite slender, he had the physical maturity and presence of someone fully grown, he couldn't be thirteen! Not even being nearly fourteen could explain this maturity!

She didn't need to say what she was thinking, the shock had brought her public face down and it was plain to see, so Ted answered the question. "It's the magic Ma'am, specifically the family magics that accepted him when he was accepted as the head and heir of all his houses and spouse for his wives' houses, and the Veela magic that came into him in the bonding ritual with Fleur. It has pushed his physical development to the allowable limits, much the same has happened to the Hermione, Fleur and Millicent. The other girls have been similarly effected, but to a lesser degree, by the Veela magic from Fleur's bonding. Being linked in Fleur's bonding triggered the Veela change in Gabrielle when she was ten, that is why she is now more mature than the other girls at twelve..."

The Queen cut him off again. "This young lady is only _**twelve**_? That is simply not possible!"

Harry spoke up then. "Actually, in the Magical World it _is_ Your Majesty, because magic transcends the laws of science. Hermione and I should not have been able to be thrown back into our eleven year old selves when we were killed, but we were. Claiming the titles that we knew that we were entitled to from our memories of our previous lives should not have physically conjured our house rings on our fingers, cleansed us of anything holding us back and made us physically grow and mature, but it did. We should not have instantaneously gained the family knowledge that made it possible to overcome the obstacles that were in front of us, but we did. And Gabrielle should not have been suddenly made a woman at ten, but she was."

"Magic will not be constrained by the rules of the normal world Your Majesty, I can assure you that I was born in the last minutes of the thirty first of July in nineteen eighty, and until the moment I claimed my titles I actually looked years younger than my actual age because I was stunted from the malnutrition and abuse that I suffered at the hands of the relatives that I had been left with against my parents' wishes. I cannot explain how this came about Ma'am, but in a way it is like religion, it must be accepted on the basis of faith because we cannot prove what we know to be true…."

He trailed off, hoping that she could accept what he said. Eventually she nodded. "You are truly an extraordinary young man Lord Potter, wise beyond your years, well beyond your actual years for that matter. Indeed, as you say we must accept some things on the basis of faith, and you have certainly shown us enough here to believe in your magic. You have given us all quite a lot to think about here today. Might we request that you leave us to discuss this and return when we have had the opportunity to ponder what your party has shown us, so that we may address other matters that may arise from our considerations?"

Harry glanced at Arthur and Amelia, who nodded frantically. "Indeed Your Majesty, we shall await your pleasure." With that he bowed and the group was escorted out.

Every non-magical person who had been present that day had been officially cleared in terms of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, because it was only the Queen, her personal assistants, and the current and previous Prime Ministers.

Mrs Thatcher had been brought in to fill in the current Prime Minister and the Queen on what the previous Minister for Magic had told her about the events that spilled over into the Muggle world during the First Wizarding War, and she was furious when she learned how much Bagnold had lied to her and manipulated her for her own ends. Her replacement may not have been happy that she was involved in these critical discussions with the Queen on what was to be done about the revelations that had come from these representatives of Magical Britain, but he had to accept that she had more experience than him with the Magical World and her input was invaluable.


End file.
